Smakebit: Prayers for the Stolen

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Dagens smakbit kommer från Jennifer Clements Prayers for the Stolen som utspelar sig i Mexiko mot en fond av hur framför allt fattiga kvinnor lever och hur deras liv påverkas av drogkartellerna. Huvudperson är flickan Ladydi. Jag kunde inte besluta mig för vilket utdrag jag skulle ta så ni får två:

s.73:
     Mike said he knew of a family in Acapulco who needed help with their small child and was looking for a nanny. 
     That's perfect, my mother said. That's perfect for you, Ladydi.
...  
     I knew what it would mean to leave. I knew my mother would fall asleep with her jaw dropped and her mouth agape. The television would be tuned to the History Channel and words about castles or the history of chess would fill the room. She would be surrounded by empty beer bottles. Long black ants would crawl in and out of her mouth and there would not be a daughter around to flick them away.
     Yes, I said to Mike. Yes.

s. 79-80:
     At that moment Paula appeared behind her mother. She was like a white vaporous creature. She held a baby bottle in one hand. She was naked. In the dark, under a river of moonlight, I could see the nipples of her breasts, the black hair between her legs and the constellation of cigarette burns all over her body. I could see the cigarette-burn stars that made up Orion and Taurus. Even her feet were covered in the round burns. Paula had walked through the Milky Way and every star had burned her body.

Fler smakbitar hittar ni hos Mari på Flukten fra virkeligheten.
Ha en trevlig söndag!