Competition Thirteen Highly Commended: Enough by Kerry Hadley-Pryce
They met in a café. He ordered lattes, his lips forming a bizarre kiss as he slurped the foam. ‘Am I enough?’ she’d said, or thought it. The second time, a fancy meal, and he’d inhaled soup off his spoon like a vacuum cleaner. The waiter nodded, offered more. In later dates, at the pub, he’d bought crisps and nuts and scratchings, and had eaten them as if starved, had washed them down with gusty gurgles of real ale. At breakfast, the sound of cornflakes, being crushed, filled the kitchen. Later, eating salad at their home, he’d macerate iceberg lettuce and chomp on carrots, and their cinema date nights were violated by his consumption of popcorn or nachos. By that time, he’d developed a special way of swallowing, a gulp that was both extraordinary and frightening, his neck undulating, snakelike, the food descending visibly. Their child, then children, were naturally loud masticators, first baby rice and smashed banana, then noodles, all slinked into constantly open mouths, lips smacking, tongues slapping. Just once, she’d said, ‘Aren’t I enough?’ or thought it. Their holiday caravan was an echo chamber of manducation, the jawing a torture. As the years passed, the apple a day; the gingernut biscuits, undunked; spag bol; poppadoms; crispy pancakes; the fret of it all became a never ending bolus of rage. Enough. Until the day the home was silent, she’d seen the note placed under the bread sticks. Brief. ‘It’s not been easy,’ he’d written. And in small letters, ‘I just need some peace.’
Kerry Hadley-Pryce’s first novel, The Black Country, published by Salt Publishing in 2015, was part of her MA Creative Writing at the Manchester Writing School, for which she gained a distinction and was awarded the Michael Schmidt Prize for Outstanding Achievement 2013–14. Her second novel, Gamble, also published by Salt Publishing in June 2018, was shortlisted for the Encore Second Novel Award 2019. She is a PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University researching Psychogeography and Black Country Writing, teaches creative writing, and has contributed to Palgrave’s ‘Smell, Memory & Literature in the Black Country’ anthology. Her third novel, ‘God’s Country’ is due for publication by Salt Publishing in February 2023.
God’s Country, Salt Publishing (forthcoming, February 2023)
Gamble, Salt Publishing, June 2018 (shortlisted for The Encore Award 2019)
The Black Country, Salt Publishing, August 2015 (awarded The Michael Schmidt Prize)
PhD (MMU) Psychogeographic Flow in Black Country Fiction
Short stories published:
https://fictivedream.com/2020/08/23/fallen/
https://fictivedream.com/2019/01/20/compensation/
https://fictivedream.com/2020/03/29/observation/
https://theincubatorjournal.com/selects/what-do-you-mean/
https://fictivedream.com/2022/01/16/swoop/
https://fictivedream.com/2022/02/27/chimera/
https://fictivedream.com/2022/08/07/hatch/
“When I Say” was written by Kerry Hadley-Pryce and performed by Maryam Snape – Listen here –www.stitcher.com/show/tall-tales-3/episode/when-i-say-78938007
Photo – Kerry Hadley-Pryce
SUBMIT / MAILING LIST / COMPETITION / CRITIQUE SERVICE / BOOKSHOP / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / DONATE
*
*
Tags: