Thanks to a lovely email from a reader, I remembered that I have long wanted to post some of what was deleted from This Is Shyness during the editing process. In my original manuscript, I included seven chapters told from the points of view of characters other than Wolfboy and Wildgirl, namely: Ortolan, The Kidd, Guadalupe, The Dreamer, Paul, Blake and Diana.
Mushrooms are vegetables that grow in the dark. That is why they look different, not green like other vegetables, or orange. A mushroom is pale like Mummy’s skin. I saw this morning. We ate toast soldiers in bed and then Mummy fell asleep again because she works so hard. I crept to the fridgerator and took a mushroom. Then I climbed back on the bed and held it next to Mummy’s face. It was the same. Then I put it back. I really wanted to put it in my box of special things along with my feather, my rock, my silky ribbon. But I was good and not wasteful. Mummy is very beautiful. Probably the most beautiful lady in the whole world. No definitely. Today when she woke up she did work and I worked at dressing up. I was a warrior with a leather thing and goggles and a veil. The kind that battles monsters in the dark with the big red torch. I am very brave like that. When I was sick of dressing up I read books. I can read even though I am not big enough for school. Next year I will be big enough for school. I would like Mummy to go to school with me instead of work. Reading is a piece of cake. Mmmm cake! The best cake is orange with seeds. We eat cake when we go other places, not this place. I had a sandwich for lunch but cake would be better. When I got bored again I sat in the top window and looked at the night across the road. Night is scared to cross the road a bit like me. Night hid across the road and I waved my big red torch at it and it stayed there. Good night.