sauna shadows

In the sauna he touched her. She giggled perched like a bird between the two men. On the outside like magnetic poles floating apart people keep their distance. Tickling her to punctuate his words he talked relentless in his foreign tongue. Down the road officers in vans patrol looking for the usual suspects. I lift weights 50 kilos more than you, he said. Weak and small she laughed timidly. Normality is learned in a grown-up's lap pleasure and pain cuddled in a dark fur coat. The fat one left the girl alone with her dad. They talked in whispers - he seemed kind. What love or safety is there in words and labels cloistered, mother, father, uncle, daughter. In the showers, kilos lighter and yet still hushed she spoke, released from her perch. In the shadows of my small place, hidden still I remember - guilty, helpless, reaching out.

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