The Reflecting Skin

Look at this wonderful frog!

Where'd you get it?

Down by the river. It was sitting on a log!

- Look how big it is! - Looks like a cane.

- Let's go sit down. - Must be heavy.

Yeah.

- Has she been by yet? - No.

- Look at its skin. - Yeah...

She'll be coming any minute now, hurry!

- My turn to blow. - Is not!

- Is too! - Is not!

Shut up! Who's got the reed?

- Well, what can I do? - You can hold the frog.

I don't wanna watch! I watched last time!

- Shut up Eben! - Watching is nothing!

Eben, just watch!

Quick! She's coming!

Come on, come on, don't drop it...

Alright, let's go, come on...

- Ma says it's wicked. - What?

- Exploding frogs. - Why?

She says it's a sin to kill things.

It's just a frog.

Still says it's wrong. Bad to make it dead.

My ma's dead. She's in heaven.

No she's not, she's in a coffin.

Not true. She's in heaven, she's an angel.

What's an angel?

A baby with wings.

Every time you make your ma cry you kill an angel.

I make my ma cry all the time. Sometimes I just look at her and she cries.

It's someone who doesn't blink. They go to heaven and become an angel.

That's not so Eben. Your ma's in a coffin being eaten by worms.

Not so!

- You gonna cry, Eben? - No.

Why are your eyes wet then?

Eben's crying! Eben's crying!

Eben's crying! Eben's crying! Eben's crying!

Scrub all day and I can still smell it...

Gasolene and grease!

Your breath stinks of it. Your skin stinks of it.

I go to bed and the sheets stink of it.

When neighbours call - not that they do call...

I see them sniffing... sniffing.

I spend all day bleaching the smell away...

then you come home and I have to start all over again.

There's not enough bleach to burn the stench of you away, Luke Dove.

Your spit tastes of it, do you know that?

You're a walking timebomb, Luke Dove.

One day you'll sit in the sun and go up - bang!

You'll be... what's the word?

Incinerated.

Things'll have to change when Cameron gets home. You hear me?

He won't wanna wake up to gasolene and grease.

Cameron's been used to the pretty islands.

Pretty sea. Pretty sand. Everything pretty.

There's coconuts on the pretty islands.

Not a car in sight.

Just canoes.

Not like this dump!

He sweats gasolene that man! It oozes from him!

Things'll be different when Cameron gets back. Things will change.

I miss Cameron.

I know... I know. I miss him too.

- You thirsty, son? - No.

You should drink. Turn to dust. A man's gotta drink.

- You thirsty, Pa? - I guess.

You want some water?

Well that'll go down real nice, son.

What you readin' there, Pa?

- Book. - What's it about, Pa?

Vampires, son.

What's vampires?

They're not very nice.

They bite your neck and drink your blood. Stuff like that.

Not very sociable.

What they do that for, Pa?

'Cos if they don't, they get old.

Do it to stay young.

And then the people whose blood they drunk, why, they get old.

And then they die.

And during the day they sleep in a coffin...

and at night they turn into a bat.

If they feel so inclined.

Any vampires around these parts, Pa?

Wouldn't be at all surprised.

You ever seen a vampire, Pa?

No I haven't, son. But then again I ain't been lookin'.

See to it Seth, would ya?

My vampire's in convulsions.

Fill her up... please?

What's your name?

Seth.

- Seth what? - Seth Dove.

How old are you, Seth Dove?

Nearly nine.

- Is that your father up there? - Yeah.

He looks like a scarecrow.

- Are you a scarecrow's son? - No.

I was hoping you were. We'll be seeing you...

would you like that?

Yeah.

Be good now, Seth Dove.

Seth!

You've been exploding frogs again.

- No... - I heard different.

- She lied! - Who lied?

The English lady!

I can see through you to the garage beyond.

You go round there and say you're sorry.

- But Ma! - Get.

NOW!

Come in. I won't bite.

Sit down.

Frogs. Who cares?

It's my dress I was worried about.

Did far worse when I was a child, goodness yes.

We used to tie fireworks to cats' tails and set them on fire.

Ever do that?

Oh... you should do it.

Boy, do they move.

Whoosh! Straight down the street.

Arses burnt to a cinder.

I remember once... we put my mum's canary in the oven.

It went 'pop'. Exploded.

Just like that frog, come to think of it.

My husband's family used to be into whaling.

Before they became farmers.

Do you like it?

Take it. Go on.

Who's that?

That's my husband.

His name was Adam. I met him in London.

I married him and came here.

We were happy for one week.

And then one day I went into the barn...

and there he was.

His face was bright red.

Tongue blue. Eyes going 'pop'.

He'd hung himself, you see.

He was... very... beautiful.

His eyes were...

His hair...

His skin...

Oh... his skin...

He used to hold me in his arms and sing to me...

"You are my sunshine..."

my only sunshine...

"You make me happy... when skies are grey..."

Well, now there's no sunshine in my life.

I hate sunshine.

Sometimes... terrible things happen quite naturally.

You look different.

Oh well... yes.

He made me younger I suppose.

Without him I get older by the minute.

Bits of me fall off.

I get up in the morning and half of me stays in bed.

Can't bring myself to look in mirrors anymore.

Tell me, how old do you think I am?

Fifty?

Fifty?!

Why, what a compliment.

Oh no, I'm older than that.

I'm two hundred years old.

Can't you see all my wrinkles and grey hairs? Look.

Yeah.

You can?

Come and sit next to me.

Come on.

- Do you know what that is? - No.

It's one of my Adam's teeth.

- This? Do you know what this is? - Hair.

That's right. My husband's hair.

These are his reading glasses. This is his comb.

You see? It's all that's left of him now.

Just a box of bits and pieces.

You fall in love, and almost at once

that loved one dies, and you're left with nothing.

Nothing at all.

Just a few memories and a house where he was a boy.

Nothing but dreams and decay. And a box!

A box from his childhood. A childhood you weren't even a part of.

Bay-Rum.

Oh, this... this is the smell of him.

Oh...

It's him... it's him!

It's the smell of him. The smell of him...

Oh, my darling... my darling...

Smell my dead one!

A vampire...

She's a vampire!

There...

- You're awake. - A little.

It's time you were asleep.

No, Ma...

- What is it now? - Nothing...

- Just grow up and go to sleep. - But...

- You want the water? - No.

Then the light goes out.