Preface

This was a collaborative assignment between Charis Wang, Seionn Tian, and Alexander Dejanovic who were tasked with visualising a short story written by Angela Argent, titled “Leaving”.

LEAVING

Angela Argent

Stopped at the smouldering red light, the kids noticed her first. It was five a.m. and they said she must feel cold standing outside the Tube like that. She looked grim.

Cranky. We didn’t feel like leaving. Inside the car was T-shirt warm. Fish and chips with vinegar, the scent on their clothes. ‘Wo, wo, wo your boat,’ they sang, mimicking a rhotic voice they’d heard yesterday. Cruel little bastards.

I clutched my coffee, my consolation for leaving. Through the window I watched the policewoman stride forward. Furious. She rapped at my window.

‘Concentrate, woman! Hands on the wheel,’ she bellowed. ‘You’ve the safety of your young ones to consider.’

The giggling grew louder. The kids knew our car was the wrong way round for London. I was sitting in the passenger seat where the driver belonged, their dad on the left side, our mad chauffeur spinning the steering wheel with cavalier glee. Messing with her.

The policewoman peered at the Czech number plates, the oversized child at the misplaced wheel, the mountain of stuff in the back and all the other signs of delinquency. Her shrug was disparaging.

‘Mind how you go,’ she muttered, certain we wouldn’t understand.