Read Twisted Tales Page 11

Buzzing, annoying buzzing, Mindy knew it was time to get up, Quickly she dressed, pulling on unattractive navy overalls, Scraping her once lush, greying hair into a greasy ponytail.

  She calls the children and rushes down the uncarpeted stairs,

  Her two boys stir and groggily dress to the smell of bacon crisping, The only sound her husband's grotesque drunken snoring fills the air.

  Mindy yawns whilst hastily serving up food and packing lunches, An extra plate is prepared and she serves her husband as he lays in,

  The boys, brunette like their father, eat speedily and leave their plates.

  She checks their uniforms and their school bags before herding them out, All three bundle into the dented, purple, ageing saloon. The key is turned, Chug, chug and silence. Cursing in her mind the haggard woman climbs out,

  The bonnet popped, leads attached and as usual the vehicle is jumped from another battery.

  Clunking and spluttering the car pulls up at an overcrowded first school,

  The dilapidated building complements unruly ragged children tearing around, Mindy's day has just begun, she correctly anticipates being stuck in urban traffic,

  There she sits, moving like a snail through the polluted, overgrown town's messy jams.

  Finally pulling into an ancient hospital she sighs as her money enters the machine, Struggling with the notion that she has to pay for working a thankless job.

  In the hospital she is an invisible presence pottering from ward to ward,

  The medical staff are blind to her as she mops floors, scrubs toilets and changes beds, The trust struggles to maintain nurses and cuts had to be made to cleaning staff.