Leonard Flachman

Salvation for an Angel.

“The names have been changed to protect the innocent.” How many times has a story been prefaced by those words. In this story there is no protection for the innocent. The uncle of a girl and her brother, who becomes their guardian, is the embodiment of evil. He manipulates the community to condone his evil. Only with the heart of an angel can a sister care for her mutilated brother and endure the daily degradation. In the end is there salvation for such an angel? Perhaps. In a bottle.

Tom Canter retells the story of the girl who saw the death of her little brother ultimately escaped the clutches of the uncle. She told Tom the story between encounters with the bottle which became her escape from the horrors through which she had lived.