A TANGLE OF LIGHT 

By Tessa Harvey


        Saxon drew her back to the present. "Amor, we went past this dumb-looking church, but the singing stopped us. The words were unknown to us, there were no instruments, the harmonies were awesome, rising and falling. My mates were awe-struck too but wanted a drink.
    As he spoke, Amor sank down on their little two-seater couch. It was shabby, as was everything else. No matter how hard she worked, there was never enough money.
    Saxon was on a disability pension because of his traumatic early life, but claimed he needed drugs and drink to help cope - and other women, she thought angrily.
    "Look," she rose up, tall in her nurse's uniform, "I am leaving tomorrow. My sister and partner have offered me a home after...." She bit her lip, aware she had said too much.
    "No!" A tall thin man, already greying, Saxon grabbed her hands, accidentally knocking over Amor's favourite mug. It shattered on the unadorned wooden floor. It shattered her heart.
    "That's it. I am going tonight." "But," Saxon stammered. "I am different. I am going to get a job and work hard for you and our baby."
    Amor was kneeling on the dusty floor trying to sweep up her broken mug, the last treasure her mother had pressed into her hands as she was taken away. Amor had nursed her for months.  There were no more reserves of courage.
    Her hand caught a sharp edge of the broken mug. Blood mingled with the tears falling.
    "I can't do this anymore. Clean house, look after the yard, keep up with the long hours of my job!"


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