Eve White: Literary Agent

from THE NIPPER

Prologue: Through a small gap in the curtains I can see the snow floating gently past the street lamp. Trying to focus my eyes, I yawn. It’s the middle of the night and I’ve been woken up by the sound of shouting and swearing from the living room. A few moments later the bedroom door opens. ‘Come on you – get up.’ He’s dragging me out of the bed by my arm and yanking me down the corridor and into the kitchen as he sways from side to side. The smell of cigarette smoke and beer and vodka turns my stomach, as I’m now in his arms, and only inches from his scarred face. ‘What is it, Dad? Is something wrong?’ ‘Wrong? No nothing’s wrong. I’ve made yi a cup o’ tea. Yi like tea, don’t yi?’ He pushes me down on the chair and starts to boil the kettle. Why has he woken me up like this and why do I have to drink tea? I don’t even like tea. But I don’t dare say anything. Besides I’m shivering as it feels like about minus ten degrees and it’s one of the coldest nights on record in Dundee and I’m dressed only in my old paisley pyjamas that are already two sizes too small for me. ‘What’s the matter, son? Are yi cald?’ ‘Yeah, it’s freezing,’ I reply as my teeth rattle together. ‘This’ll warm yi up then.’ He turns back to the stove, pours the boiling water from the kettle into a cup. The next few seconds seem to happen in slow motion. As he turns round again I think he’s going to hand me the cup but instead he reaches across to me and there’s something in his hand but it’s not a cup and a second later I feel an agonising, scalding sensation that starts in the middle of my cheek, spreads across my whole body and then seems to shoot into my heart. Dad has pressed a burning teaspoon on my face and he’s holding it there long enough to get a result – he’s scored a goal and he grins because he can see that I’m in agony as I’ve started screaming out in pain. ‘Oh, is it too hot for yi, pal? Sorry, son, this’ll cool it doon.’ He looks straight into my eyes and then spits right into my face, his saliva mixing with the tears running down my cheeks. Dad grins again and takes a swig of his vodka. I’m just a nipper, and I’m frightened and I don’t understand. But I am still too young to realise what the effect of living with Dad is going to have on my life; too young to know that I will live the majority of my childhood as a virtual prisoner, and that my home in the Dundee tenements will be my torture den. And it has only just begun ...