Your mother had given you
a few coins to buy sweets

and on the way you met Fay
and you said

do you want to come
and buy some sweets?

and she said
I haven’t any money

and you said
you can share mine

if you tell me what you like
but she said

my father wouldn’t like it
if I had sweets he says

they rot your teeth
but she walked to the shop with you

thinking silently to herself
and outside the shop

you said
are you sure?

she nodded and stood outside
while you went in

and bought sweets
when you came out

she was waiting there
her eyes gazing at you

her tongue running over
her lips

you showed her
what you’d bought

and her eyes widened
here take one

you said
your dad won’t know

if you don’t tell him
she hesitated

her fingers lingering
over the bag of sweets

but what if he sees me
or smells them

on my breath?
she said fear entering her eyes

her hands falling at her sides
you put out a hand

and touched hers
it’s only a sweet

it’s not as if
you’re having a drag of a smoke

or sipping beer
she nodded and smiled a little

best not
she said

if he finds out
he’ll get angry with me

for eating sweets and lying
and you remembered

the bruises you’d seen
on her arms and thighs

that time
and you sighed thinking

as if eating sweets
was a big deal or a crime.