{"id":431,"date":"2023-11-27T12:38:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T12:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/?page_id=431"},"modified":"2023-12-12T15:57:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T15:57:57","slug":"big-bertha","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/big-bertha\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Bertha"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Big Bertha<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 A Short Story by Elaine Desmond

Set in New Zealand, Big Bertha <\/em>was shortlisted for the Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn International Short Story award as part of the Wexford Literary Festival in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Excerpt from “Big Bertha”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ringing of the phone cuts through your throbbing brain like a chainsaw.  You try to stretch, then realise the sofa you\u2019re sleeping on is too short for the length of your legs.  You hear Bill\u2019s gravelly Kiwi tones as he moans to Liv about having to get out of bed to answer it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018Kris.  It\u2019s for you.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018Huh?\u2019  You lift your head from beneath a blanket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018The cops,\u2019 Bill mouths silently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Shit.  You take the phone he\u2019s holding out to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018Hello.\u2019     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018Is this Kristi Taylor?\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018Yes.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018Morning, Miss Taylor. Sergeant Williams here.  I\u2019m ringing from the local police station.  Just to let you know your bag was handed in here this morning.  We found this phone number inside it.  I\u2019ll need you to come to the station to pick it up.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018Right. I\u2019ll be straight there.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           You hang up and look at Bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

           \u2018I need to go to the station.  They\u2019ve got my bag.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Bill rubs his stubbly head, biceps straining at his tee-shirt.  Rumour has it he killed a man once.  Now his crumpled face looks like that of a bulldog chomping a nettle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Shit!  If the cops have your bag, that means they\u2019ve got Bertha.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Big Bertha \u2013 A Short Story by Elaine Desmond Set in New Zealand, Big Bertha was shortlisted for the Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn International Short Story award as part of the Wexford Literary Festival in 2021. Excerpt from “Big Bertha” The ringing of the phone cuts through your throbbing brain like a chainsaw.  You try to stretch,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-431","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1487,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/431\/revisions\/1487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}