But she would miss the risk, even a slight one. So she wrote ‘Enjoyed myself.’ It was hardly a challenge but it introduced a small element of uncertainty which she had now begun to need as a stimulant to her day. She left the house early, having taken Maurice off the wall, for she knew that that evening she would want to dine alone. At the wool shop she was overwhelmed at the prodigious range of colours and patterns. She was not a good knitter. She knew the basic rules of purl and plain, for those she had learned at the orphanage. For some reason she considered the plain knitting stitch as virtuous, and the purl as sinful. Matron had taught that the right side of the garment was plain, and purl, the wrong, and Hawkins became a victim of semantic confusion. She decided that she would knit the scarf in plain stitch so that it would be right on both sides. It had to be a virtuous pursuit, since the whole point of knitting at all was to stave off the occasional onslaughts of violence that clenched her fists and jaw.
What do You think about A Five Year Sentence (2013)?
