Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

by Jeanette Winterson

The two of them sat in silence for a while then Doreen went on, ‘Course the children helped. I ignored him for fifteen years.’

Whelks are strange and comforting. They have no notion of community life and they breed very quietly. But they have a strong sense of personal dignity. Even lying face down in a tray of vinegar, there is something noble about a whelk. Which cannot be said for everybody.

The curious are always in some danger. If you are curious you might never come home, like all the men who now live with mermaids at the bottom of the sea.