AustLit

'Grandma cut her own throat. She had been sick for a while. She would walk out of the house naked and forget where she was. Sometimes she would get angry for no reason. She said she heard God talking to her. It was me who found the body. The skin was swollen around the wound like lips. Her throat was smiling at me. There was a lot of blood. I was five. Mother cried a lot. I didn't know why. It wasn't her mother. Even though Father had left when I was born, Grandma lived with us after she got sick. Grandma would give me boiled sweets. She didn't like the red ones. There was a lot of blood...' (Publication abstract)