The Lonely Crowd is proud to publish a brand new story by Mary Morrissy, author of Penelope Unbound (‘A novel of great brilliance and inventiveness’ – John Banville) and Prosperity Drive (‘Mary Morrissy is a wonderful writer. These stories are entertaining and deft, so skillfully balanced and interwoven…‘ – Hilary Mantel). 

[Note: This story is no longer available online but you can still read a short extract below, while the full the story is available in Issue Fourteen, which may be purchased here.]

When Olivia reaches her destination there’s a canvas tent outside where she has to show her card to an official. It reminds her of images she’s seen on TV of al-fresco voting in some hot country where the people are eager for everyday democracy. She likes the primitive simplicity of it – the tent, well really an awning on stilts, and the atmosphere of doughty war-time solidarity, as the steward jokes with her about the weather. It’s July but it’s the same grey, he says. He ushers her into a huge basketball arena with a polished wooden floor. She has to register first at a row of tables where staff with lanyards sit in Perspex boxes in front of screens. The first question she’s asked is her date of birth. She overhears the man beside her give his – it’s identical to Olivia’s, and she wants to say “snap!” or “what are the odds?” Then she realises how stupid she is. Everyone here is the same vintage – that’s the whole point.

The steward at the start of the roped walkway leading to the vaccination stalls is standing with her back to Olivia, where a number of people are queueing. She’s a heavy-set young woman and something about her shape looks familiar. These days Olivia finds it harder and harder to “see” people in all the hazard gear. When the steward turns, she’s wearing a pair of black-framed spectacles, large as goggles. She holds her hand up policing the air between them.

“Marcella?”

“Liv?” Marcella says peering, then flaps her hands. “Oh, it must be my new glasses!”

Olivia doesn’t know if she means that she can’t see properly or that they’ve transformed her appearance. Either way, Olivia thinks, the glasses have nothing to do with it. It’s the estrangement that has overtaken the world since they last met that has made them unsure of one another.

“How are you?” Olivia asks.

Marcella shrugs. “You know.”

“Still writing?”

Mary Morrissy is an award-winning Irish novelist (The Hennessy Award, Lannan Foundation Award) and short story writer, the author of four novels, Mother of Pearl, The Pretender, The Rising of Bella Casey and Penelope Unbound, as well as two collections of short stories, A Lazy Eye and Prosperity Drive.

‘Mature People’ also features in our new print issue and will only be available to read online for a limited time.

Main photo by John Lavin