Free Crying in the Dark by Shane Dunphy

against me, her nose almost at my own. It took all my willpower not to back away from her. She smelt of urine, sour milk and faeces, and her nose and upper lip were caked in mucus. She looked me straight in the eye, then closely examined my beard, reaching out and touching it delicately.
    ‘It’s all a-prickly, Lar. Liken a hedgehog!’
    Her hand moved to my hair and she ‘ooed’ and ‘aahed’ at that.
    It sure is liken a girly. It’s all soft and it smells like flowers or perfume bottles and such.’
    I stayed perfectly still, letting her explore me in her own way. It was purely primal, like being sniffed by a dog. Babies will do something similar, using touch and smell to get to know a new person.
    She pulled back from me slightly and looked me in the eye again.
    ‘You have pretty hair, Francey,’ I said. ‘I’m sure if you asked Karena, she’d be happy to style it for you. Plaits or something?’
    In a movement so fast I didn’t see it, she whipped the lollipops from out of my hand and punched me in the face. The strength of the blow was truly remarkable for a child of her size. The pain exploded across the bridge of my nose (‘twice in as many days,’ I thought ruefully) and I sat down hard, banging my head on the rim of the table as I did so. I felt piss and milk soaking into the back of my jeans and groaned inwardly. Bríd began to say something but I raised an arm to stop her. A thin rivulet of blood dribbled from my left nostril and over my moustache, but I wiped it off with the back of my hand. It seemed that I had crossed a line with Francey – had spoken out of turn. However, I could not permit the act of aggression to pass uncommented upon. I needed to start as I intended to continue.
    ‘Francey, I know you’re upset right now – I can see that very clearly. Because you don’t know me, and because you’re frightened, I’m going to let the fact that you hit me pass, just this once. But you need to know, when you’re with me, I have just two rules. You don’t hurt anyone, not yourself and not me, and you try your best. I won’t hurt you, and I expect you to treat me the same way. Is that clear?’
    The sounds of furious sucking came from the other end of the table. The twins’ eyes were wide now – they were listening to me all right.
    ‘I’d like you to answer me please, Francey. When I speak, I like it when people speak back to me. It’s rude to ignore a person when they talk to you.’
    ‘You can just take your rules and your smelly hair and fuck right off wit yourself,’ Francey said around the sweet. ‘That’s alien I has to say to ya, okay?’
    I grinned. ‘It’s better than nothing.’ I stood up, massaging the small of my back. ‘Let’s clean up here, ladies. I trust that the cupboards and drawers can all be locked and secured?’
    The three women nodded, and mutely began to clean away the mess the twins had created and to lock all the food-stores and cutlery drawers. Within ten minutes, other than the silent presence under the table, you would never have known that the Byrnes had been there. I poured a basin of soapy water down the sink, and then hunkered down by the table again.
    ‘Kids, we’re going into the living room to watch some TV. You have two choices. You can stay here, or you can come in, have a cup of tea with us and then go to bed. To be honest, I don’t mind which you do. I’m sure you’re both really nice kids, but you haven’t been very good company this evening. My nose is sore and I have a bit of a headache, and before we sit down to watch any television, Olwyn is going to have to put some antiseptic ointment on her face. You are responsible for those things. I’m not mad at you, and I don’t think Olwyn is either [Olwyn muttered that she wasn’t] and there’ll be no more said about it, but when you make a decision to hurt someone, you need to realize what it is that you’re doing. I’d like you to think about that, while you make up your