He slapped me for no reason she said.

When Emilia asked what the blue face was all about.

Then she thought of all the other men she could have been with right now.

Men who had sworn to love her perfectly.

And amongst them she thought of that boy,

Who, would stand under her window,

Drunk like the gondola he was on

Plucking an elaborate tune on his guitar.

She thought of his slightly ugly face

How his hair had curled, in all the wrong ways.

She thought how pathetic he had seemed back then

On his daddy’s boat.

But today she took out her phone book

And called him before she could change her mind.

She wanted out of this prison island for good.

And his daddy’s boat didn’t seem so bad after all.

She dialed his number, hoping he’d still be there.

It rang and she could tell he was on roaming.

First ring, second ring, third ring, she decided she’d hang up if he didn’t pick up by the fifth ring.

Fourth ring, she was desperate…she decided to hang up on the seventh ring.

Fifth ring, then a beep and a voice on the other side said “hello”.

She lifted her head and looked into the mirror. The voice said “hello” again.

In the mirror she saw her life with him, in shades of pink and blue.

She ran to her bathroom because she thought she would be sick.

She hung up.

But that night she went to bed with a swan – song and a dagger.

The song was for her husband. So was the dagger.

Tomorrow she thought to herself, as she lay in the dark for him to come to bed.

Tomorrow will be mine…