Thursday 24 March 2011

crab bucket

Glenda is from the Sisters (crap bit of the city). She's hard-working and fierce. Her friend Juliet is beautiful and she's been on the front page of the newspaper, which Glenda doesn't approve of, really, because it's not a proper job and you can't trust it. But Pepe, who put her on the front page and who is also from the Sisters, says that's just 'crab bucket'. Glenda doesn't understand.

Later, she's buying crabs. The bucket doesn't have a lid because if one tries to climb out, all the other crabs grab it.
Crab bucket, thought Glenda as they hurried toward the Night Kitchen. That's how it works. People from the Sisters disapproving when a girl takes the trolley bus. That's crab bucket. Practically everything my mum ever told me, that's crab bucket. Practically everything I've ever told Juliet, that's crab bucket too. Maybe it's just another word for the [crowd]. It's so nice and warm on the inside that you forget there's an outside. The worst of it is, the crab that mostly keeps you down is you ... The realization had her mind on fire.

A lot hinges on the fact that, in most circumstances, people are not allowed to hit you with a mallet.
So what if Juliet only has a vocabulary of 700 words?
There are more than enough people who were stuffed tight as an egg with words, and who would want to see any of them on the front page?
I was going to be dismissive about anyone who is dismissive about Terry Pratchett, but what's the point? There will always be crabs.

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