take that thing out of your mouth. seriously, darcy. you’re five years old and still walking
round with that dummy, like a baby, what will people say?
 
oh, alright, five years and three months, fine
 
yes, the three months are important
 
please, darce. stop touching everything... jesus... will you
just listen? take that thing out of your mouth
put the sweets back
put that back
put that
put
that
back
 
if you’d listened that wouldn’t have happened what did i tell you and now everyone is looking
at me and at you and that guy at the counter probably thinks i’m nicking stuff they’ve spilled
everywhere just give me a hand darcy would you
 
darcy! put that comic back!
no way you’re having it!
it’s a fiver and you only ever want it for the plastic tat on the front
 
that’s five whole coins
put it back
 
you’re stressing me out
give me a break would you
 
stop crying
for god’s sake, people are looking
 
we’re next
just give me a minute, i need to count the coins, see if i’ve got enough
stop talking
just for a minute
oh, we’ll have to put the crisps back but that’s ok we’ve still got the beans
 
baby, give me a hug. i’m sorry i got cross in there with you. mummy’s sorry, so sorry. it’s
just, you know, i don’t have enough... tell you what, beans for tea, yeah? i’ll put the tv on
tonight, just for an hour, we can snuggle up and eat the beans and you can have toast under
yours, and there’s an orange juice in the cupboard that i saved for today. it’s friday, see. a
special day. you ok, babe? i’m sorry
 
we’re almost home, sweetie. just one more hill. look, there’s our little home. i know, the
window is still broken, it does look silly! it... oh, darcy, don’t be sad, please. i’ll call the
council again, get the window fixed, it’ll be back to normal in no time. i’ll save some money
and buy us some new curtains, shall i?
 
no, daddy can’t fix it. he’s... he’s
 
he’s gone away for a bit
 
i know you want him back but we’re ok on our own for now
it won’t be forever
you’ll be six-and-a-half when he comes back. that’s not long, is it? that’s only seven months.
please stop crying
remember what he said
he said he’s sorry he had to go away
and he said
 
he said he’d take you to chessington and to disneyland and to buckingham palace to see the
king
that’ll be fun won’t it?
 
i’m sorry you miss daddy
i’m sorry you’re sad about the window
i’m sorry you were scared when it broke
no, the man who broke it, he wasn’t nice, was he? not like your daddy
his teeth were yellow, weren’t they
and those eyes! like a
like a
 
yes, that’s it. like a wolf!
 
like a big bad wolf
 
he was cross. yes. it was just that he lent mummy some money after daddy went away and
i forgot to give it back
silly mummy, eh?
 
oh, look at our sunflower! it’s strong, isn’t it? i swear it’s grown since this morning. we must
remember to water it or it’ll die
 
oh
 
yes, he is there
 
that man
 
the wolf
 
he is there. it’s ok darce. let’s just turn round and sit in the playpark because we don’t
want to borrow money do we?
 
actually, maybe we could buy some new curtains if we borrowed some coins. just a few
though, just enough for some curtains and some sweeties, yeah? would you like that?
 
he won’t break the window this time. you don’t need to be scared, honest. i’ll just borrow a
little bit and we’ll have a treat. everyone deserves a treat, don’t they?
 
see, he seemed nice, didn’t he? maybe he was just having a bad day when he smashed that
window
 
shall we... shall we go back to the shop now? right away? come on, then! pick a comic,
that one, that one looks good, look at all the freebies! a pretend camera, you
 
can take my photo, i tell you what, darcy, we’ll have a fashion shoot and i’ll wear the bow in
my hair, you can wear the necklace and we’ll walk up and down the road taking photos of
each other, it’s ok, we’ll still have some coins left, leave the worrying to me, darcy, look, shall
we get some, would you like that, grab those, and those, and a pack of those lunchable
things, no, the cheese and ham ones, get two, oh, and darce, look at that cute little keyring,
would you like that to hang off your lunchbox, go on, baby, it’s ok, you can have it, hold my
hand, this aisle is big enough to skip down, get one of those, it's so pretty, and let’s get the
flavoured porridge instead of stirring chocolate spread in and i tell you what, let’s go get
some chips for our dinner, that chip shop is open now, and don’t they smell lovely, tell you
what, darce, you take that dummy out and i’ll buy you some chips, how about that?

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*

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darcy, mummy needs to talk to you. it’s really important that you listen to me, ok
tuck your t-shirt in, here, let me help
ok, so there’s that man, and he’s going to come here and ring the doorbell, and when he
does we have to pretend we aren’t in, ok? so that’s the game we’re playing with that man.
mummy couldn’t give him the money back and he’s pretending to be a big bad wolf so we
have to be quiet as mice, you get it? darcy, you get it?
 
i know i promised
 
i’m sorry
 
the fun bit, baby, is that we don’t know when he is coming, so we have to make sure that the
house is dark all the time, ok?
what a fun game this will be!
 
we’re going to close the curtains and light candles and read books, it’ll be so fun!
 
and when he pretends to be a wolf, he may say some big words, because he forgets that
there’s a little girl here, darcy, ok? and those big words he uses, we must never repeat them,
that’s part of the game
 
so, the rules are that we have to be quiet and the house has to be dark and we have to
ignore his big words and we have to try not to be scared
 
ok, darcy?
 
it’s ok, darcy, remember the game, remember we have to pretend we aren’t scared
 
ok. i think the big bad wolf is winning the game. but it’s ok, he doesn’t know you are here so
you could hide and mummy will make him go back outside if he gets in, ok? so you go hide,
maybe in your wardrobe, honey. be quiet, ok, take your teddy, just play quiet, sweetie, you
promise?
 
he won’t eat us, I promise. he isn’t hungry, darce, he’s just pretending.
 
it’s over, baby, you can come out now, it’s ok. mummy’s ok, it’s just a tiny mark from where i
fought the wolf, it’ll go down soon. it’s just a bruise, it’s just... everything is ok. mummy won.
i’m just going to get changed, baby girl. i need to have a quick shower, my baby, you sit on
the toilet and wait for me so we’re close together. we’ll always be close together, darce, ok?
it’s ok, i’m ok
 
it’s all over now, it’s all ok
no, i had no money so i gave him something else and he is happy again, and so is mummy
and so is darcy
 
today is ok
 
but we don’t have much money now, ok, so we have to be careful. let’s have a fun dinner like
spaghetti hoops and fish fingers, or pasta and that shaky cheese, or... i’m not sure you can
have chocolate spread with pasta, but you could have mayonnaise, if you like? or tomatoes?
or ketchup?
 
we can switch the lights on tonight too
 
i promise baby. i really promise
 
i promise i won’t borrow money from that man again
 
we’re ok aren’t we? me and you
 
just me and you
 
we can go outside now he’s gone
 
let’s water that sunflower of ours, eh?
 
keep it big and strong, just like you.

Karina is a writer from Hastings. She facilitates community writing workshops, giving non-writers the opportunity to tell their stories. Her credentials as a copywriter include a story on the front page of the Telegraph, and articles in national dailies. Karina is passionate about using narrative to tackle social injustice, and writes to offer voices to the unheard. She has written numerous pieces on working-class life, largely based on her own experience as a working-class girl in a seaside town. She has featured in Storgy and Neon, and her screenplay, New Shoes, was longlisted in the UK Film Festival Script Competition.

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Of the story featured here, Karina says:

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‘In this story the little girl and her mother are often physically hungry, due to circumstance, but there’s also a deeper hunger - a need for change, for security, for a better life. Meanwhile, the big, bad, wolf, much like his depiction in fairy tales, is an all-consuming force in every way. His hunger is different, but with a similar power. What big teeth he has (all the better to eat you with).

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