Sharkey and George crime busters of the sea do doo do do doo doo dooo, whirls round and round in the demented merry-go-round of memories that sing soprano purrs and lick with velcro tongues. Cancer runs in their family, winning first place with her as it hit the heart that thundered every time my fingers touched the electric skin of her nubile body. There was rasping and breathing and starving as I stood far away holding a roll of selotape and laughing they’re over his eyes, he can’t see hearing i’m going to kill you when you get this off me replying then i won’t help you take it off then will i? and she was falling on a needle with eyes fluttering with the beginnings of a dream suddenly silenced. Her sister went many years ago and I sat on the couch and cried my sorry little heart out but this time I put my feet up on the balcony and toast silently to the night before downing the whisky in one. She was the one who liked Felix cat food i hear a friend say I used to lift her up and spin her around when I was a kid I replied and all the while my brother is stumbling around with his hands selotaped over his eyes yelling over our laughter as we held each other up straight. She used to run behind the washing machine and once fell into the bin, the swing top spinning comically as a gentle mewing erupted from the base. And now she’s asleep in ashes and cooling away in the wind.

And that’s how it goes.