of nurture’s wildness - a novella (ch. 6)
by Tom Stuckey
VI
Gloria felt good to be back in the mountains after spending the day and night in the city. Chep was sweeping the hall and had made fresh coffee that filled the hall with its roasted fragrance. He was playing the radio, a local station still on the FM frequency. He was dancing slightly with the broom and it was a reassuring sight for Gloria who went over to join him for coffee. Chep was homosexual, and for the same reason as the homeless, had sought out refuge in the mountains. The song playing was “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” as Cheps swept one way and wiggled to the music and sang into the broom handle, which was lit up by the morning sunlight. He was wearing suit trousers with suspenders and a shirt that had the sleeves rolled up. Gloria smiled on approaching him and thought if you love yourself life really is a bitter sweet dance. Cheps loved himself and loved Gloria, they were a platonic couple, of sorts, and did little things for each other that brought joy but were also good at leaving space for all of life’s sadness.
“Looking good Mr. Cheps, Morrisey would be proud.”
“I think he would, this music was made to be danced to alone. How was the city, dear, still hell?”
“Yes, I think I actually saw people in track suits with guns this time, running life out of every corner of the city.”
“It has to get worse before it can get better, a lot worse.”
“I agree. The minister who I met said that he may pay us a visit.” Gloria looked a little worried.
“We knew it would happen sooner or later, like I say, worse before better.”
Their tête à tête was interrupted by shouting and then screaming from inside the ball room. Gloria went in and left Cheps to dance the morning away. On entering the room she found Gene throwing her porridge at Henry and screaming obscenities. “What is going on this time?” She asked. “It’s this pig, he is purposely chewing his food loudly to piss me off, I can’t take it anymore!” Gene looked like a wild cat but instead of hissing she was screaming. Henry just stared at her and continued to chew his food as loudly as his jaw could manage. “I think Gene has finally lost her mind, Gloria, and she should be removed from all communal areas and made to live outside, if she cannot behave like a human.” With this Gene sprang out of her chair for Henry, but Gloria caught her and returned her gently to her seat. “OK later we need to get together and do some resolution together, can you be civil until then?” Both parties looked at Gloria who was hard to argue against, and agreed.
“OK then.”
Gloria had arranged to go for a walk with James but first went to her room to take a shower. Her room was a modest one, and that was fine with her, she preferred small rooms. It did have its own shower and a good view from the bathroom window, so as she rubbed her skin with a moisturising wash, which was needed more than ever whilst living in the mountains, she looked out at the cold pure white peaks as the warm water skimmed over her soft skin and down her stomach and in-between her legs and flowed over the top of her legs, finally pooling at her feet before going down the plug hole. After washing and dressing for a walk on the mountain trails, she headed to James's room and knocked on the door. “Come in.” Gloria entered and found James ready to go, like he had been sitting there quietly all night.
After walking for some time along the trail that ran up the spine of a mountain, they stopped at a little outcrop of rocks, the snow not quite thick enough now to cover them fully, their tops breaking free a little. “Shall we eat?” Gloria had packed some sandwiches that the chefs had made up for them. “Yes, that would be nice.” They each ate their sandwich in silence, enjoying the view and the occasional bird that swooped and then caught the air back up, until Gloria broke it, “How are you finding your first few days?” James could see that she was holding a small book of poems and that she intended to share some with him, and he looked at her, not in the light of carer but more of a woman being a woman, venerable and loving. “It has been an experience like no other.” James replied. “Good, that is what we aim for, the laws of traditional medicine are something we have always been wary of when it comes to people’s choice about life and death.” She looked down at her book so James made the connection for her. “Are they your poems, will you share one with me?” She began to open the book and said, “Yes.”
"Don’t talk to me
in the fields that everyone has left me in,
when the last thing you said was,
‘you’d never leave me to fight alone.’
but alone you left me
and now I must
work in these fields
because there is no one left to
play with.”
It hit James hard and straight in the stomach, like a blow, leaving a queasy feeling that started low and then began moving up his chest and neck, finally into his eyes as he started to cry, just a few tears that instantly dried up in the cold air. “Thank you,” James simply replied. Gloria, seeing him moved, just smiled her pretty smile and looked out over the mountains side.
***
Back at the centre it was time for the resolution session between Gene and Henry. Two wingback chairs had been placed back-to-back in the library, facing away from each other. Henry sat in one and Gene in the other. A few of the residents had been invited to join, and James feeling what he thought was the beginning of love for Gloria, or at the very least desire, watched with a new intentness. “OK I want you to each take turns saying whatever you like to each other, but you cannot reply to one and other, OK?” Henry was first to break in, “Well, Gene, you old, bitter goat, at least this will allow me to get a word in, as you know, or maybe you don’t, you talk all the time and it is hard to think with all your noise.” Gene could not help it and instantly cut in. “You lousy bastard! ME noise! It is hard to breath the same air as you with your constant chewing, you pig!” This then turned into noise from both until Gloria cut in. “OK let’s try that again and this time please do not reply. Henry you go first. “OK, Gene, I know you don’t like me, and heaven knows I hate you with your little feral cat noises and the way you scratch about in your room, and the way you smell, like it's a bad idea to smell good, all the hate you have stored up for men, and fling out with that muck-spreader of a mouth you have, but I for one am tired and would like to call a truce.” Gene looked as red in the face as a pale woman could, but also a bit shocked that he had called for a truce, but tried to say her part. “Henry, you are a fat pig. You chew like a pig mowing through garbage, all day you sit in the dining room and chew whatever people bring you.” Her words started to become softer. “BUT! I do realise that my hate is not entirely for you alone, and I DO recognise that I often hate myself, and I am ALSO tired of our fights, and accept a truce.” With this Gloria asked them to turn and face each other, and for the first time, Henry and Gene looked each other in the eyes, and saw what they each looked like, without anger distorting their faces, and they quite liked how each other looked.
That night James, on returning to his room along the hallway heard some noises coming from Henrys room, that could only be described as, indeed, feral. Henry and Gene had become lovers. Animal lovers.
*Read Tom Stuckey’s next installment of Of Nurture’s Wildness on June 19, 2025, at 6PM CST.
Photo of Tom Stuckey
BIO: Tom is a writer from Devon in England. His work can be found at A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Bristol Noir, Nut House Press, and Pulp Magazine. He is the author of The Canary in the Dream is Dead and The Sun Marches upon Us All. Learn more about Tom Stuckey at www.tomstuckey.com.