All The Perfumes of Arabia
written by: Liz Berg
Sally sat back with a mug of tea in her hand. Was it worth it, all this hard work, all these tea towels washed and hung on the airer to dry? She glanced at the horizontal rain hitting the window and sighed. She hoped Tom would do his bit and drag the kids off somewhere for a pizza after school. They couldn’t come back here like this. He knew that. He had argued, but she had persuaded him it would do them no good to see the house in the state it had been in.
It had taken her a good couple of hours to clean up all the mess. She hadn’t dared use a kitchen towel. The bin bags would reek by the next collection. The kids would be suspicious. Her neighbours would comment. Especially if there was more than one bag outside for a while. She barely filled one a week with all the recycling and composting she insisted upon.
Tom had shouted at her. He was always shouting at her these days. A tiny bit of her wished his had been the blood she’d mopped up. She had had to wash her clothes and Tom’s, and because there hadn’t been a full load, she washed the dark clothes from the kids’ laundry basket. Blood, it seemed, got everywhere.
Sally glared at the culprit calmly washing its paws. A flapping, injured bird. That’s what the cat had dragged in, spitting feathers. Then released it to create mayhem. Disinfectant disaster. What jury in the land would find her guilty if she wreaked vengeance? A quick twist of the wrist and the animal would be in the bottom of the bin bag, smothered in those very feathers she had spat out of her mouth as they floated around her attempts to clean up.
The kids may cry for a day. Tom would hurl daggers at her, but she was adept at avoiding his nasty glances now. Really, best of all worlds. Sally sat on her haunches and pondered her options.
The cat finished cleaning and sauntered out of the kitchen cat flap. No doubt on the trail of another victim. Snapping the lock over to prevent it coming back in, Sally took the least troubling option. But the decision was still there, still hovering. All it would take would be one more bird eviscerated on the sofa. The jury was definitely out on this one.
- Spotlight On Writers – Liz Berg - October 3, 2026
- All The Perfumes of Arabia - September 18, 2026
- Beryl - June 22, 2026
