Wean’s crabbit. Wee pudge-balled fists fleein’ every which way, from side a crib to gummy mooth, scrunched eye socket to ma maw’s knitted blankit. Slevers and tears smeared across those ragin’-red cheeks.
Teethin’ sae he is. Ma pinky gaes in for a sook, but it’s naw what he’s wahntin’. That foot in the onesie’s fair workin’ as well, fat wee knee shudderin’ wi’ ev’ry stomp.
Liftin’ him oot his crib, the blenkit near enough comes wi’ him. The wean turns, mouths, but yeh’ve nae luck son – yer da’s got nothin’ for you. Sook all ye want. Aye, cry then, wee man, scream the hoose down. Wake the dug, the neighbours, a’body, why not? Fat lot of good it’ll dae ye.
We’re stuck here together, ye and me baith, son, in the box room before break a day, each as much use te yun another as tits on a bull.
*Thanks for reading, folks. Image courtesy of Doug8888 on Flickr. My recent short stories include ‘Frost and Fight’ and ‘The Dead Don’t Moan’.
Matthew Richardson is a writer of short stories. His work has featured in Gold Dust magazine, Literally Stories, Close to the Bone, McStorytellers, Penny Shorts, Soft Cartel, Whatever Keeps the Lights On, Flashback Fiction, Cafelit, Best MicroFiction 2021, Writer’s Egg, Idle Ink, The Wild Word, and Shooter magazine. He is a doctoral student at the University of Dundee, a lucky husband, and a proud father. He blogs at www.matthewjrichardson.com and tweets at https://twitter.com/mjrichardso0
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terrific ! I love the rich vivacity of language, the dad’s idiolect, playful but poignant; the compassionate vignette — masterful compression, Matthew —
Thanks John. A wee exercise in writing in Scots for me!
it took me a few reads to get into it but once I did ……..
I don’t think — in fact, I’m sure — it wouldn’t have half the charm were it written in Standard English —
A wee gem it is, Matthew, and as visual as can be.
Thanks so much. Taking a different voice out for a spin!
You can get a lot more mileage from that voice, Matthew!
Reminds me of the novels of James Kelman I used to read – well, without the profanities
There’s certainly a bit of Govan in the vernacular, albeit not rendered in quite the same quality of voice as Mr. Kelman. Cheers Graham.
What a fun read! Wee lad’s got a fire in ‘im
Really good, Matthew, especially the language!
Thanks Chris! By no means a proper writer in Scots but thought I’d have a dabble!
Been a while Matthew! Like the different style, good auld scots. Also like how this wee snapshot leaves you wanting to know what happened next. Did the wean shut its geggie? Aye ur naw……cheers laddie!
Thanks Tom. Wee exercise at a writing club that I thought I’d send out into the world!
I’ll let Tom know when I see him…..😄😄
Could have sworn it was Tom commenting as well! Cheers Peter, very kind as always!