pickled herring

by Marcus Silcock

I do not like to expose my neck to the barber. My head is full of migratory birds, thinks Kato, walking the dust park remembering the lush fish. On the way to work, a plump man always stopped to ask for loose change. She refused until one day. That one day changed the rest of the days. He always found her. Whether she was far from his favourite tram tracks, under a scraggly tree, or lining up to buy beetroot for Borscht, he was there with his hand asking for more loose change.

Kato was not some rich foreigner. Enough to survive month to month barely. Loose change was not so loose. But now he expected it. Sorry, she said, not today. His weather beaten hands, more knobby than rotten spuds, reached out to warm her head with spirit thoughts. Don’t need no spirits, she said.

He was a large man and grew larger with each refusal. One day he brought her to the house of plates. Old blue plates, concave, rounded the house. Inside was a rug. Sit, he said, pouring the yak milk. We’ve been collecting coins for them, he said, pointing to something in front of them. Everyone wins with that one, he said.

Puzzled, Kato looked towards a large plate and there it was. Pickled and onioned. But its head was larger than the average fish head. Something moved up and down. The fish mouth opened and coins spilled out. Jackpot, she said. Not exactly, he said.

The rug began to spasm. Then came the raspy voice. Your scream time has increased by 22%. Your scream time has declined by 14%. It varied by time of day until the fish mushed away.

Photo of Marcus Silcock

BIO: Irish writer Marcus Silcock (formerly Marcus Slease) teaches English literature and creative writing at a high school in Barcelona. His writing has been translated into Slovak, Turkish, Polish and Danish and has appeared widely in magazines and anthologies in North America and Europe. He co-edits surreal-absurd for Mercurius magazine. His latest book of prose poems and microfictions, Dream Dust, is available from Broken Sleep Books. Find out more at Never Mind the Beasts (www.nevermindthebeasts.com).