John EscottBehind The Green Bird pub there was a big car park.
It was a busy pub, and every night there were lots of cars there. Tonight, there was a woman in the car park too. She stood in the dark behind a tree, watching and waiting.
Her name was Rosa, and she was twenty years old. She worked in a hotel six days a week but not on Mondays. On Mondays, Rosa did something different.
And today was Monday.
It was cold. Rosa pushed her hands into the pockets of her coat. It was a night for trousers, but Rosa wore a short skirt and nothing on her legs. That was important.
After a time a woman came out of the pub and walked across the car park to a blue Ford car. The woman was about fifty years old and she walked slowly. She sang quietly, with a little smile on her face.
'She's drunk,' Rosa thought. 'But she's going to drive.' The woman got to her car and put a hand on it. She wore a long green coat and grey trousers, and she had blonde hair. Very, very blonde hair.
'Oh dear, my head!' she said, then laughed.
'That hair colour came out of a bottle,' Rosa thought. She took a small bottle from her pocket. There was some red liquid in it and she put some of the liquid on her leg. Then she ran quickly round the car park to the blue Ford.
The woman opened the car door and half-fell into the driving seat. She laughed. 'Oh, Dorothy Burns,' she sang. 'You're drunk again!'
Rosa was now behind her car, crouching on the ground. When the car began to move back, she jumped to her feet and hit the car with her hand - bang!
The car stopped suddenly and Rosa fell down on the ground behind the car. She put her hand on the red liquid on her leg, and quickly put some of it on the back of the car.
Dorothy Burns got out of her car, and walked round to the back. When she saw Rosa on the ground, her face went white.
'Oh!' she cried. 'What - what happened?'
'My leg!' Rosa said. 'Oh, my leg!' She began to cry.
'But - but what happened?' said Dorothy Burns. Then she saw the red liquid on Rosa's leg. 'Oh, there's blood on your leg!'
'Yes, because your car hit me, that's why!' Rosa said. She stopped crying, and began to look angry.