“Next year will be different”he said, “the money will start rolling in, the electricity will stop running out,
the bills will stop mounting up and the bailiffs will stop sending letter after letter, call after call and we’ll be able to pick up the phone without worrying who is on the other end, we’ll be able to afford a new wardrobe of clothes, stuff that we like and not just for practicality, We’ll be able to take a walk into town, with our heads held high and smile.”

She turned back to him with a tear in her eye and she’ll say she’s happy, that it’s just the onions
that she’s chopping for their evening meal, that she doesn’t need new clothes, these will do
and does he want one sugar in his coffee or two, it’s been a long time since she felt desirable, when her latest outfit comes from the charity shop and the shoes are dropping to pieces beneath her feet yet she doesn’t have the heart to tell him how she feels.

And upstairs their son sits with a tattered old magazine that he was given by one of the teachers at school, he doesn’t have any toys, his parents cant afford them, in his piggy bank he has buttons saved from old clothes, saving them up for a rainy day, convinced they’re money, there are no curtains hanging up by his window, only old newspapers and bin bags stuck up with blue tack, at least it keeps the neighbours from looking in.

“I hope to god next year is different” he said, with a pocket full of change that adds up to about a fiver, all that he has until his dole money comes in next week, he’s looking for a job but nothing quite fits his credentials they take one look at him, shake their heads and say “sorry, no…..we don’t think you’re suitable at this time but thanks for applying and feel free to apply again in the distant future, when you’re back on your feet.”

And in the back of his mind he questions himself, wondering whether his family would be better off with him out of the picture, without him on the scene, yet she turns to him and sees the tears in his eyes, the way that he lays awake at night full of worry, she smiles, kisses him on the foreheadand says “don’t worry love, I’m sure next year will be different.”