The day
my brother told me
that leaves could be used
as money
was the wealthiest day
of my life
I stood in the bush
behind our house
and looking up
I surveyed my riches
my growing bank account
The things desired
by three-year-olds
above all else
are, of course, lollies
so off I snuck
with my pockets full
of dried legal tender
to the dairy
down the hill
But when I got there
greed gave way to sense
and I crouched outside
on the concrete
with straggly hair
and dirty feet
and crushed brown leaves
falling from
my little
fingers
When she met him
when she bit him
on the cheek
so hard
that the blood
ran down
his face
she knew
she knew
she was making him
her twin
she remembered
her sharp bite
her matching scar
under her mother's house
when she woke
from the dead
Poems © Helen Rickerby, 2008