Liars' League

A Song about Butterflies by Peter Francis-Mullins

May 2010 A Song About Butterflies

Read by Lisa Rose

It was past midnight when Vicky got home, just a day and a few hours since she had closed the door quietly behind her and slipped away. She dropped her rucksack in the hall. Her schoolbag lay where she had left it, though its contents were scattered now across the floor. A hairdryer buzzed upstairs.

'Mum?' Vicky waited then climbed towards the sound, to Karen's bedroom. Her mother was sprawled, naked on the bed - hair still damp, her dryer labouring into the quilt beside her. Vicky moved quickly to pull out the plug then watched, in the overheated silence, till she was sure that Karen was breathing. Satisfied, she fetched a silky kimono to cover her. Vicky gathered a red-stained mug and a bottle half-full of Chianti from the bedside. She was heading for the door when she trod on an empty beer can which crackled like a firework under her foot. Vicky froze, then turned and met Karen's eyes, sparked awake.

Karen sat up, staring at Vicky then clutching at the kimono, which was falling from her breasts. She slipped off the bed, turning from Vicky as she wrapped the garment around herself. 'Where's the belt?' Vicky found it. Tying the belt as she went, Karen left the room. On the landing, she gripped the banister awhile then went carefully downstairs, a snow-capped volcano on her back.

It Makes a Good Sound by Tom Ryan

May 2010 It Makes a Good Sound

Read by Sean Patterson

At four o'clock, Reidy and I can think of nowhere else to go, so we skirt the ring road until we reach Luka's place.

I tell him we should go home. He agrees. Nevertheless, we walk in under the blue neon that loops out something too abstract for me to make sense of this late. I forget what the bar is called. I forget the last digit in the year. I sometimes forget Reidy's kids' names. Never mine, though I see them less often.

Wine, Women & Song this month - 11 May @ The Phoenix

Booze, babes and ballads dominate May's Liars' League, with a smooth, full-bodied selection of vintages from New York, Morocco and Glasgow, among other home-grown flavours.

We've got mysterious lodgers, drunken bisexuals, pub crooners, alcoholic parents and even a bar fight for you this month - so raise a glass and sing along ...

STORIES:

Dara by Jessica Lott, read by Sarah Feathers

Tasting Flight by Catherine Sharpe, read by Daisy Whyte

It Makes A Good Sound by Tom Ryan, read by Sean Patterson

A Song about Butterflies by Peter Francis-Mullins, read by Lisa Rose

Stained by Laura Martz, read by Tricia Stewart

7.30pm, Tuesday 11 May, 2010 - Downstairs at The Phoenix, Cavendish Square, London