| The balaclava he’s left behind, draped over the back of the chair. A trip to top up on essentials: chips, pasta, rice – not available before. I’ve added multivitamins to the list, just in case. I can’t help but focus on the hotspots: the front door handle, the detergent bottle he’ll pick up to wash his hands when he returns. It’s new, this fretting – his trip to the supermarket ramped up; his covert action, maskless, into hostile territory. And me, his new military wife, arms folded, waiting at the door. |
| Born in Hong Kong, Claire now lives and works in Oxfordshire. She is Associate Editor for ignitionpress, and is currently a part-time practice-based PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London studying poetry and disaster. |