{"id":792,"date":"2021-04-11T11:36:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T11:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=792"},"modified":"2021-04-11T11:36:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T11:36:30","slug":"bare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/bare\/792\/","title":{"rendered":"Bare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hey Mo! I got a table. Carried it all the way here.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Where\u2019d you get it?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Other side of the city. Riots going on.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You looted it?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I had to fight another woman off. Like an octopus, all tentacles. She had a chair. She wasn\u2019t getting the table.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mo studied the pine table. \u2018Anybody else see you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Everybody was taking things.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The police\u2026?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u2026 were nowhere.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You did good, Saf. The house\u2019s pretty bare.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The next day she returned with two chairs. Mo signalled approval. The day after Saf brought a vacuum cleaner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Don\u2019t we have a vacuum cleaner?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018When did you last clean up? It\u2019s broke.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following day Saf returned with a tv, the day after a radio.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018House is filling up,\u2019 Mo murmured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You want me to stop?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Jus don\u2019t get caught. We get deported back where we came from, we\u2019re toast.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day she brought home tinned food. The next, bed linen; then, a drinks cabinet. The next, a truck pulled up outside the apartment. She got out and directed two men. They brought in a refrigerator, wardrobe, bookcase, two more chairs, some vases, and enough crockery for six people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Where we gonna put all this stuff!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We\u2019ve got room.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018There\u2019s a fridge in the kitchen already.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Put it in front of the first one.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Then we can\u2019t open the first one?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It\u2019s back-up.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man from the truck said, \u2018Where do you want this?\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Put it in front of the old one,\u2019 Saf said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Two stoves! This is insane!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Your mother was right about you. Women have spent their lives spoiling you.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Stop it. Now!\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning Mo went to the chicken packing factory. When he returned the house was bare. Both stoves and fridges were gone. Thank God! Then he got his brain into gear. Their belongings had disappeared. The bed: where was it? Where would he sleep tonight? No plates, cutlery, clothes. Had she got rid of everything? No passport even. He had nothing to identify himself by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sat on the floor, tired, hungry. He must have fallen asleep. When he woke, it was dark. The clock on the wall was missing. Where was Saf? He fell asleep again. The light woke him. He was hungry. No food, no Saf. He ought to be getting off to the factory. A bell rang. The two truckmen carried in a heavy box, then left. He had no scissors, so he cut the tape with his teeth. He pulled out a bulky object in a black bag, ripping its plastic with his nails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Saf!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His wife lay on the floor before him in a foetal position. Her hands were tied behind her back. Her mouth was gagged, she was limp. Did she have a pulse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I told you they don\u2019t like foreigners here, Saf. Trash, that\u2019s all we are.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lay down beside her in the same foetal position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018This country destroys your soul.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He began to sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Hey Mo! I got a table. Carried it all the way here.\u2019 \u2018Where\u2019d you get it?\u2019 \u2018Other side of the city. Riots going on.\u2019 \u2018You looted it?\u2019 \u2018I had to fight another woman off. Like an octopus, all tentacles. She had a chair. She wasn\u2019t getting the table.\u2019 Mo studied the pine table. \u2018Anybody else […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A chilling tale of modern society:\n\"Bare\" by #SwanseaWriters\n\n#flashfiction","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[379,435],"tags":[449,451,450],"class_list":["post-792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-379","category-april-2021-room","tag-bare-room","tag-immigrants","tag-looters"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sbrNJE-bare","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}