Elizabeth Carroll’s very lovely, very disturbing “The Duke of Vertumn’s Fingerling” is now available for listenification at Podcastle. Go here and make your ears happy.
After I opened my eyes they dressed me in silk. A bone-white gown slipped over my head and I raised my arms for it like a child. With my hair undone, I must have looked like a bride. I was nothing of the kind.
My gown hung on me like a sugar bag. I stood in scraps and patches of fabric. I bound ribbon around my waist, and crossed it over and over between breast and hip. I would be presentable if nothing else.
I was barely minutes old.