July 27th, 2026
Monday night, bookshop back room open mic, the room about half full. Oliver is not on the list.
What happened
Monday night, bookshop back room open mic, the room about half full. Oliver is not on the list. He is on the wobbly stool by the till, watching Dave do a tight five about his mum and Sian do a closer on her sister, and the middle runs in his head the way it ran in Kate's hearing on Tuesday the 16th, the car park line in the back of his mouth, and the running-in-the-head is the closest he has been to the writing being true when no one he trusts is in the room. He walks home. He does not open the Moleskine. The last Monday before the headline is the last Monday he will be in this room as a person who has not done the set.