CRESCENT

She ran around the parking lot holding the baby at arms length until she stopped, held it close to her, and bit, into its leg just below the knee.
We went over to see what she’d done and saw a crescent of tooth marks broken the skin. We took the mother into custody and the child into care.
It wasn’t so easy. We had to push our way through a crowd of ayatollahs gathered around turnstiles awaiting entrance to a meeting of military personnel they were due to address on the perils.
She woke me at half five to remind me.
‘I dreamt you were smoking,’ she said.
‘Oh, I thought I’d given up.’
‘Me too but I saw you.’
‘Maybe I didn’t think I’d notice if I did it in your dream.’
‘Well I noticed, and I don’t want you smoking in my dreams.’
‘Okay,’ I said.
She got up out of bed out the door crossed the landing to a room where she sat on a chair at a desk and started working.
I rolled onto my right side and fell asleep.