Emma's Luck by Claudia Schreiber

Emma's Luck

Claudia Schreiber

Do we make our own luck, or does it just fall into our lap? In Emma’s case it seems both. I could see how her 'luck' might affect another character, this was quite evident early in the story, but that did not make me want to stop reading to find out exactly how the events played out. You may view pork sausages rather differently too after enjoying this modern morality tale.

Extract
Emma gutted the entire pig, cleaned its organs and emptied its intestines and bladder very thoroughly. She washed the parts like items of laundry, rubbing them inside and out. Then she put the intestines in salt, covered them, and placed them in the slaughterhouse where it was cool. She felt as if she were on stage in a theatre. She liked it when her audience shook with disgust, or when he showed amazement at her skill, her knowledge, her movements. She turned provocatively to him as she blew up the pigs bladder like a balloon and tied it at the top.
'Yuk' he said as she had expected. And then he added, jokingly,'What will it be in its next life, then? A football, a handball?'
'Brawn' said Emma, laughing. 'I'll be filling it with brawn.'
Parallels
  • Pigtopia by Kitty Fitzgerald
  • Misery by Stephen King