Thank you daddy

3rd December 2008

She came over all trailer-trashed
glassy-eyed, flip-flopping
tube of Prep H and a bottle of Diet Coke in her
cheap chipped red nail-polish hands.
Rub it in for me will you daddy?
Course I will darlin’
hop on daddy’s lap.
She didn’t hop so much as he
grabbed her meaty waist and flung her over.
Daddy’s gonna make it all better
licked his thumb and forefinger and
rubbed them over her wrinkle swollen hole.
No daddy, I’m sick! she squealed,
I’m sick daddy.
Alright darlin’ settle down.
He squirted the cold gel
she squirmed from the cold gel.
Thank you daddy.
He swatted her away
slurping at the Coke bottle
looking at him sideways.

12 responses

  1. Persico comments:

    It is thick in there.

  2. Paul Squires comments:

    That is very powerful and disturbing, Ani. Which is to say very well written, the characters seem very real and somehow there is a sense of size to them and the bottle contains an unexpressed but very horrible threat. Very well written.

  3. xtx comments:

    not sure if this is sick or sweet. not that it matters. i liked it

  4. An Unreliable Witness comments:

    I will never be able to look at a bottle of Diet Coke in the same way again. Though I’m hoping to God you meant the small 500ml variety, rather than the family size 2 litre bottle.

    Sorry. Thinking in too much detail again.

    This has to be read aloud. Trailer-trashed, glassy-eyed, flip-flopping, indeed.

  5. Jim Murdoch comments:

    Uncomfortable reading. Really more depends on what you don’t tell us than what you do leaving us to fill in the blanks. And the horrors that we imagine are always worse than those we actually see.

  6. Ani comments:

    Persico: Thank you, mommy.

    Paul: Thank you, daddy.

    Xtx: Thank you, mommy.

    AUW: Thank you, daddy.

    Jim: Thank you, daddy.

  7. sevenperfumes comments:

    Eerie, powerful and visually perverse. Gives me cognitive dissonance.

  8. Dick comments:

    Like a Diana Arbus photograph, two parts grim dream, one part reality.

  9. Ani Smith comments:

    Persico: Thanks. I like thick. Like duvets or french toast slices.

    Paul: Thanks, Paul. Sometimes I feel strange about characters, so I’m glad they lived for you.

    Xtx: I couldn’t decide either, really, and I was embarrassed about it so I feel very warm that you liked it.

    AUW: Actually, I waffled between the glass bottle and the small plastic bottle, so in the end I thought I’d leave it up to you to decide. But um, I wouldn’t read this shit aloud in front of anyone. No way, dude.

    Jim: You’re absolutely right, Jim, as evidenced by Mr Unreliable’s 2 litre diet coke bottle.

    Ani: Shut up, you suck.

    Sevenperfumes: I am just happy that you weren’t utterly disgusted with me. ;)

    Dick: Hello and welcome, Dick. We do love a bit of Arbus around here. Have you seen the movie Fur? I identified.

  10. clarissa comments:

    Disturbing in a good way. You seem to be good at that.

  11. ben comments:

    Sounds like what I thought everyone was up too when I was young, even though they probably weren’t. Wonderfully written! I’m both envious and inspired.

  12. Ani Smith comments:

    Clarissa: Cheers, mate. I don’t mind admitting that I hope you’re right.

    Ben: Thanks, Ben. I didn’t think of it that way, but now that you mention it, yes, the grownups are always up to something.

Leave a comment