Kieran.Stories

We worked in shifts but neither of us slept, not properly. I don’t remember it being said outright that I was living in Adam’s flat, but it wasn’t like I was going to abandon Norman. I suggested the name on Christmas Eve. Everything was gooey, sentimental. Norman was the name of my old teddy, I said. Really, Norman was my sister Karen’s toy. Norman was a white terrier on wheels. He had black eyebrows and Styrofoam legs. Always level, paws down. Karen used to make me cry by jamming his wheels into my ankle. She loved using Norman to trap me. Our Norman was different. He was all gloop. He couldn’t stand but after a while he could move. Adam showed me how to use his French press, and soon the flat was filled with the smell of coffee and delicate hills of faeces.