NATIVE TONGUE (new fiction)

Hi! I’m sorry but I’m going to have to speak to you using this notepad today. I’m in so much pain.

Thank you. It’s quite bad. So you know that ulcer I told you about, the one on the back of my tongue that I got because of my filling coming out? Well, I ate some pizza last night and I was really hungry and didn’t wait for it to cool. They say the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well, that’s definitely me with eating hot pizza. Anyway, now I have a burn on top of the ulcer, and I can’t speak. I tried and it’s just a noise. The cat sounded more like she was speaking in intelligible English when she meowed at me this morning.

I think I will be. It just needs time to heal and I need to stay quiet because speaking hurts. You look… disorientated. It’s so good to see you, though. I mean, I know it’s not even been 24 hours but it’s still so good to see you.

Oh god, I’m sorry. I forget you’re not an early riser, like me. I was awake before it got light today. I can’t even blame nextdoor’s cockerel. I think it has jet lag or something. I wanted to come and talk to you early on because there’s some stuff I really need to say. I did text but I’m guessing because you weren’t awake you haven’t looked at your phone. I was turning things over in my mind and I decided the only thing to do was to come and speak to you in person - well, write to you in person - as soon as possible.

It is serious, I suppose. But not in a bad way. Well, I hope you won’t view it in a bad way. That’s what I need to find out. But I think it’s important you hear it directly from me as soon as possible. Not that there’s any chance you’d hear it from anyone else.

You remember that day a couple of weeks ago, when we went swimming in the old quarry?