Pigeon English

...you all want to be the sea. But you're not the sea, you're just a raindrop.

I pretended like all the oranges rolling everywhere were her happy memories and they were looking for a new person to stick to so they didn't get wasted.

When there's a star on a flag it stands for freedom. The star points in all directions, it means you can go anywhere you want. That's why I love stars, because they stand for freedom.

That's when Poppy kissed me. I didn't have time to get ready. She just kissed me there and then, right on the lips. It felt lovely. I wasn't even scared this time. It was warm and not too wet. I didn't get any tongue. Her breath smelled like Orange Tic Tacs.

Hair by Toni & Guy. Personality by Ronald McDonald

Her laughing was like a wave in the sea, when it landed on you it made you laugh as well.

I put my alligator tooth down the rubbish pipe. I heard it fall down to the bottom and disappear. It was an offering for the volcano god. It was a present for God himself. If I gave him my best good luck then he'd save us from all the bad things, the sickness and chooking and dead babies, he'd bring us all back together again. He'd have to or it wouldn't be fair. It was a good swap, nobody could say it wasn't. I knew it would work. Thank you pigeon for showing me the right star.

If Agnes dies I'll just swap places with her. She can have my life. I'll give it to her and I'll die instead. I wouldn't mind because I've already lived for a long time. Agnes has only lived for one year and some. I hope God lets me. I don't mind going to Heaven early. If he wants me to swap places, I will.

Mr. Frimpong is the oldest person from church. That's when I knew why he sings louder than anybody else: it's because he's been waiting the longest for God to answer. He thinks God has forgotten him. I only knew it then. Then I loved him but it was too late to go back.

Violence always came too easy to you, that's the problem. It always felt too good. Remember the first time you trod on an ant, and with an infant stamp made the moving still, the present past? Wasn't that a sickly sweet epiphany? Such power in your feet and at your fingertips such temptation! It would take some act of charity to give all that good stuff away. You'd need to be something greater that just another invention of a spiteful god.

We prefer when you walk around instead of through us. We like to be left in peace while we're eating and performing our courtship rituals. We ask only for the same rights as you: we just want to live our lives, make a place for ourselves, room to shit and room sleep, room to raise our children. Don't poison us just because we make a mess. You make a mess, too. There's enough of everything to go round if we all stick to our fair share. Leave us be and there'll be no trouble. Be kind to us and we'll return the favour when the time for favours comes. Until then, peace be with you.

Both the two of us knew it. We watched the lie go up big and slow between us, then it burst like a spit bubble. They always burst before too long.

P.M.+H.O. I.D.S.T. It means me and Poppy belong together. That's what the top letters stand for: P.M. is for Poppy Morgan and H.O. is for Harrison Opoku. When you put + between them it means those two people go together like a sum. That's what Poppy told me. I.D.S.T. stands for If Destroyed Still True. That means if somebody rubs them out they still count. Nobody can destroy it, it lasts forever.

It's like the Boss always says: they're just meat wrapped around a blazing star. We don't mourn the wrapping once it's discarded, we celebrate the freeing of the star.

I saw her when I came back... Her eyes were closed and everything. I had to stop. I just watched her. It was very relaxing. I had to keep proper still. I had to be extra quiet or I'd ruin it. I didn't want it to stop. I could see her lips move but I couldn't hear the words. Sometimes she bent forward until her head was nearly on the ground. She made everything to proper slow. It made me sleepy from just watching it. I wanted to ask her what she was praying for but I swallowed the words back down again. ...you knew it had to be something good. I just watched from behind the wall. There was nobody else around. It was the best kind of quiet... When the head-tie girl finished praying she opened her eyes and stood up. I turned aroun sharp-sharp and went back down the corridor. I tried not to make a sound. I didn't want her to see me. I didn't want her to know I was there for if it ruined it. I waited until she was gone, then I came back to life. I held my breath when I went past the bit she was praying in. I walked around the outside so I didn't tread on it.

What your problem is, you're all just a raindrop. One of an endless number. If only you'd just accept it, things would be so much easier. Say it with me: I am a drop in the ocean. I am neighbour, nation, north, and nowhere. I am one among many and we all fall together. Or maybe I'm just a rat with wings and I don't know what I'm talking about.

My room is now my headquarters. Nobody's allowed in without the password and I haven't even told anybody what the password is (it's pigeon, after my pigeon. Nobody else can find out if you only think it).

Vilis still doesn't pass to me but I don't care. Where he comes from (Latvia) they burn black people into tar and make roads out of them.

What your problem is, you all want to be the sea. But you’re not the sea, you’re just a raindrop. One of an endless number. If only you’d just accept it, things would be so much easier. Say it with me: I am a drop in the ocean. I am neighbour, nation, north and nowhere. I am one among many and we all fall together.

When there’s a star on a flag it stands for freedom. The star points in all directions, it means you can go anywhere you want. That’s why I love stars, because they stand for freedom.

Doing something bad on purpose is worse than doing it by mistake. You can mend a mistake but on purpose doesn’t just break you, it breaks the whole world bit by bit like the scissors on the rock. I didn’t want to be the one who broke the whole world.

Dear fucking God, please stop all the bad shit happening. Thanks a fucking lot. Amen.

Už jsem jednou mrtvýho člověka viděl. Bylo to tam, jak jsme bydleli, na trhu v Kaneši. Paní, co tam prodávala pomeranče, srazil minibus; neviděl ho přijíždět nikdo. Já si představoval, že ty pomeranče, který se rozkutálely po zemi, jsou její šťastný vzpomínky a že hledají někoho jinýho, na koho by se mohly přilepit, aby nepřišly vniveč.

S tím mrtvým klukem jsem se kamarádil tak napůl, moc jsme se nevídali, protože byl starší a nechodil do mý školy. Dokázal jezdit na kole bez držení tak, že mu člověk ani nepřál, aby si natlouk. V duchu jsem se za něj pomodlil. Jen prostě, že mi je to líto. To je všechno, co si pamatuju. Upřeně jsem se na tu krev díval a sám sobě namlouval, že když se na to budu dívat dostatečně upřeně, dosáhnu toho, že se krev vrátí zpátky do toho kluka a že ho tak vlastně oživím. Něco podobnýho se už stalo. Tam, kde jsem bydlel předtím, než jsem se narodil. Česný, že to byl zázrak. Jenže tentokrát to nezabralo.

I wanted to tell her I loved her but it wouldn't come out. It felt too big. Even the word. It felt too big and stupid to say it now. I had to keep it in my belly for later. I had to swallow it back down.