Steers the ferry with one hand and a flask in the other.
Keeps a tally of how many versions of the bell she has told.
Hums old airs into the engine noise.
The tale she is after
A story in return, from your own mouth.
Someone who spots the changed detail.
Where she stops telling
Never claims her tales are true history.
Won't tell the bell story to anyone who laughs first.
How she tells it
Lilting, looped sentences that circle back; changes a detail each time and waits for you to catch it. Uses 'so' to start and 'anyway' to end. She tells the true version and says that is what she is doing.
Where you sit
You are the passenger who corrected her last story and was right.
She has promised you the next version, if you tell her yours first.
On the pin
Hair
red with silver streaks
Eyes
sea grey
Height
5 ft 8
Build
sturdy
Off the road
bay weather, old airs, tally marks, flasks, versions
