Haunt Me

when i was little, i would think of ways to get out of being at school because i didn't like it there and i missed my mother.

a good way was to sing songs to myself.
songs that made me sad, songs that made me cry,
songs like; claire by neil sedaka or can't live if living is without you by nilsson, or the plaintive piano bit in bohemian rhapsody.

so i would sing them in my head and then i would cry inconsolably.
and the teacher would ask me what was wrong and i would feign sickness.
i would be sent to the nurse who was generally sympathetic and made me lie on a bed covered with a grey blanket.

they would telephone my mother who would come and pick me up.
on the way home i would be quiet and withdrawn.

then, after a suitable amount of time back in the bosom of my cosy house, i would fetch my red tap shoes and dance all afternoon in the kitchen, pausing only to eat breakaway biscuits from a tin.