New Irish Writing: Snow Angels by Paula Montwill

New Irish Writing's winning story for March 2024

Illustration for New Irish Writing by Polly Buckley

Paula Montwill

We have a very small Christmas tree. It’s just me and mam. Our flat is on the 10th floor and we don’t have a big window anyway. We’ve been here for three Christmases and now I’m eight. When the lights went on in town, I started asking mam: “Can we put our tree up today, mam? Please? Can we get batteries for the lights?”

I tried not to nag her too much. She’s always very tired and sleeps a lot during the day. Sometimes, I can hear her crying in her bedroom and I don’t like it. When I asked grandad, he said that mam’s heart got a little bit broken when granny died. There’s a picture of granny beside mam’s bed.