The Premonition

I’m not drunk, he said. I’m just feeling tender, like I’m really open and anything might happen.

You ought to be careful saying things like that, she replied.

How so?

If you’re too open you can be climbed into and eaten up.

That’s crazy.

You’ll see.

What do you mean?

Look into my glass: what do you see?

Cinzano.

And?

And what?

Look through the glass.

I’m looking.

What do you really see?

I see you.

What do I look like?

You look drunk but interesting, and you look beautiful.

That’s your drink talking.

I see us walking hand in hand up the stairs to my flat.

Now you’re seeing.

You trip on a stair near the front door and I help you up.

You’re very kind.

And I kiss you.

Then I should kiss you back.

Such a sweet kiss!

It’s late, time to go.

Shall we go together?

What do you think?

I think we will.

Alan McCormick lives with his family by the sea in Wicklow, Ireland. His writing has won prizes and been widely published, including in Best British Short Stories, Confingo and Popshot magazines, Poetry Bus, The Bridport and Fish Prize anthologies, A Wild and Precious Life – A Recovery Anthology.

Alan also collaborates with the London based artist Jonny Voss. Their work has featured regularly on the web, including on 3:AM Magazine, Époque Press, Words for the Wild, Fictive Dream and Dead Drunk Dublin. Their book ‘Dogsbodies and Scumsters’ was long-listed for the 2012 Edge Hill Prize.

See more at alanmccormickwriting.wordpress.com and www.jonnyvoss.com