Category: Dead Men Don’t Drown
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1011: Dead Men Don’t Drown
Dead Men Don’t Drown: #14 (catch-up with all episodes here) Clive doesn’t look surprised when I return with Jacob Macleod’s ring in an envelope, which is either professional discipline or proof that solicitors are born knowing how badly families behave. He opens the insurance bundle again, dips his pen though he has nothing to write,…
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0911: The Liturgy
Liturgy for the Lie That Kept the Children Fed I. The Sin That Has No NameThere is a sinthat the catechism does not list. It is not theft, though something is taken.It is not adultery, though a bed is left cold.It is not murder, though a man is buriedin the silence of his own wife.…
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04.11: Dead Men Don’t Drown
Dead Men Don’t Drown: #13 (catch-up with all episodes here) I write Mairi on the back of an electricity bill, then Mary beneath it, then cross both out as though ink can be bullied into telling the truth. The names look almost alike if I want them to, near enough for a husband with salt…
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03.11: The Liturgy
Liturgy for the Fragments That Will Not Fit(for the questions that multiply in the silence) I. The Moulding of Reasonable ExplanationsShe tries to build a storyfrom the pieces on the table:the ring with Mairi inside,the spiral lock in its sealed envelope,the photographs that will not speak,the dogs that face the sea. Perhaps Mairi was a…
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27.10: Dead Men Don’t Drown
Dead Men Don’t Drown: #12 (catch-up with all episodes here) I obey the conservator for exactly twenty-three minutes, which is long enough to find an old manila envelope, write DO NOT OPEN on it in block capitals, and place the spiral lock inside as though firm handwriting has ever saved a woman from herself. The…
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26.10: The Liturgy
Liturgy #12 for the Name She Has Never Heard(or for the toast burnt twice, and the ring that tells a stranger’s story) I. The Lock She Does Not OpenThe conservator’s voice stays with her.Do not open it, not yet, not like this,and so she does the hardest thinga curious woman can do. She protects her…
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20.10: Dead Men Don’t Drown
Dead Men Don’t Drown: #11 (catch-up with all episodes here) Dear Ms Macleod, thank you for the photographs, which show what appears to be a folded letter secured by a spiral lock, though I agree the name is unhelpful, since the finished packet looks less like a spiral than a paper tongue stitched through its…
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19.10: The Liturgy
#11 Liturgy for the Advice You Did Not Want(for the wisdom that arrives disguised as a suggestion) I. The Voice That Speaks Softly The advice came quietly,as a suggestion,offered with the lightnessof someone who knowsyou will not listen at first. It was wise,it settles like a stonein quiet water. But you did not want it,because…
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13.10: Dead Men Don’t Drown
Dead Men Don’t Drown: #10 (catch-up with all episodes here) The next morning I sit at the kitchen table eating strawberries and cream for breakfast while the neighbour’s cat stares through the screen door with the patient outrage of a creature expecting staff. It knows this house better than I do, hooks one claw beneath…
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12.10: The Liturgy
#10 Liturgy for the Memory That Lingers(for the tricks the past plays on the heart) I. The Scent That Refuses to LeaveYou open a closet door,and though the clothes are gone,given away to someone else’s life,the scent of the one who wore themstill hangs in the air like a held breath. Strawberries and cold cream.Tobacco…
