that’s not much then he said you know next to nothing

next to nothing is not nothing I said it’s something

and you don’t know what it is I said

I don’t want to know what it is he said

you do I said I can tell you want to know

no I don’t he said I don’t want to know nothing about you

then why’d you marry me I asked him

because I was lonely he said

I was lonely too I said

so that’s what happened and we’re not lonely anymore are we I said

he just looked at me with that look he’d get now and then

and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking

but I knew it wasn’t anything good

/

I took a drink because I needed a rest I explained to him

I needed a rest because of the baby who was very fractious today

very what he said

very fractious I said

what’s that mean he said

the nurse at the clinic told me I said

she said I had a very fractious child

and do you know what it means he said

yes I said the nurse at the clinic explained it to me

explain it to me he said

I don’t want to I said

because I’d forgotten what it meant exactly

except that there was a lot of crying involved

because the baby isn’t comfortable in himself I said

what’s wrong with him Lenny said

it’s nothing serious I said he’s got the gripe and he’s not happy

a baby that little’s not happy or sad he said he’s too young

he doesn’t know what he is

he doesn’t have to know what he is I said

just because he doesn’t know he’s sad doesn’t mean he’s not sad

I thought he was fractious Lenny said

you don’t even know what it means I said

neither do you he said

/

don’t drink that stuff he said

where do you get it from he said

I’m not saying I said

then I didn’t say anything else

and he just looked at me like I was a mad woman

/

it was from Mrs Kennedy that I got the drink

she lived two doors up the street

she was as old as a stone

she was kind to me when I needed a bit of relief

she was as mad as a budgie

but she knew how to mix a few things together

common stuff you could get anywhere

it was her mother’s recipe from when times were worse she said

and I laughed when she said that

and so did she

when did it get easier she said

history doesn’t happen to the poor

and then she laughed again