Columba (from ‘The Train has Struck a Cow, Ladies and Gentlemen’)

The black fish screamed at me with its little puckering mouth. Flat, glistening. A dark spiral at the center of a white eye. Froth rising from folds in its painted gills. Every morning I woke up in my little single bed and rolled over. I was lucky, most hostels jam all the staff in the one damp, overcrowded dorm, but in Inverness I had a whole room to myself. It was a small space, very minimal. White walls, a window looking out on the alleyway, a pop out desk, and a single bed. I sat up, shivering slightly, and looked more closely at the fish…