The Uncommon Sufferings and Remarkable Deliverance of Lucy Smith
… "Yes Grandfather, you know me," she whispered.
The wolf's eyes regarded her. He'd heard a lot of people's stories at the Zoo. People didn't tell their stories to the lions or the tigers, they didn't tell them to the penguins. Sometimes they whispered them in the quiet of the reptile house when they found themselves alone. Their lips moving close to the purple fluorescence, garbling their confessions, their fears.
The eyes of a wolf are vigilant, they lack the predatory stare of the tiger. Their ears are fearless, Lucy thought.
You can tell me anything, the wolf's eyes said.
Lucy said the word, despair….
by Wes Lee
Originally from the UK, Wes Lee currently resides in New Zealand. She has directed her black comedy, Woman with a Weapon at the Maidment theatre in Auckland and her writing has appeared in various online and print publications: Stamp, Trout, PopMatters, Snorkel, Pleasures & Dangers, Turbine, Thieves Jargon, Blowback Magazine, Mannequin Envy. She was an award winner in the NZSA National Short Story Award, and has work forthcoming in The Ugly Tree, Misanthropists Anonymous, BuzzWords and Opium Magazine.