Wena Poon reading at the Triskel Arts Center in downtown Cork, Ireland, to a packed house on a late Friday night. She performed "Addiction", a short story from the book Lions In Winter. The following is an excerpt:“Alistair.” Brian raised his voice warily. “You have to tell them the truth.”
Alistair screamed. He stamped his feet against the wall. Drawings fluttered to the ground.
“You have to, sooner or later. You have to get them to understand.”
“It’s easy for you to say. You don’t have my parents.” Alistair ran the back of his hand over his nose. “You know that scene, in Alice in Wonderland? The Queen says, ‘Sentence first – verdict afterwards!’ Off with her head, Brian. Off with her head! And Alice says –“
“Alistair, you’re not making sense, you’re pissed.”
“And Alice says, ‘Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards!’ And they all explode into a thousand pieces and sh-she wakes up, and it was just a dream. It’s brilliant. I wish I could say that to them.’”
Alistair dragged the phone across the room and collapsed on the bed, crawling under the bedclothes. His voice came through muffled. “They have it all set up, the golf club. The job. The arranged marriage. She’s the daughter of an engineer. An Engineer! Big, fucking, deal. My mum sent them – the in-laws - copies of my secondary school exam results, my baby photos. For pre-approval. They told me.”
Alistair began to cry. “I don’t know these people any more. What kind of world they live in. I don’t know anymore. I am so fucking unhappy. I am so fucked up.”
The next day, he woke up with his face all crumpled, and Brian was at the door, wearing his stupid band T-shirt and carrying his battered guitar case.
