‘There’s a Woman Works Down the Chip Shop’ by Angela Readman

What a joy this story is. The narrator’s mother, a downtrodden, faceless chip shop worker, finds herself being noticed by another unremarkable woman, and after a simple conversation where she feels seen for perhaps the first time in her life, apparently morphs into Elvis. ‘Elvis’ is a metaphor for inner confidence and an awakening of a different sexuality, unrecognised by the child. It is funny, cruel, loving, sad and joyful all at once.

First published in Root, ed. by Kitty Fitzgerald, Iron Press, 2013, and collected in Don’t Try This at Home, And Other Stories, 2015