The Allotment in Aberbargoed

She sits on an old crate watching her Taid pulling up cabbages He pushes his large rough hands into the soil and heaves one out and as some dirt lands on her lap she hears a wheeze as he stands.

It’s his bad chest. She thinks. ‘Too many years underground, breathing in coal dust.’ Her Mam once told her. She jumps up, brushing the dirt away.

‘We’ll have this for our dinner girl, now you have a go.’

She nods her head and squats. He gives her the small red trowel. She teases the earth around the cabbage sticks the trowel in and wiggles it about.

‘Right now girl pull it out.’

Tugging at the cabbage with both hands, she puffs her cheeks and tries again. She’s almost there. Twist and tug then up into the air it comes