‘I try to kill myself on the first of March, a Sunday.’
Caldwell’s short story plunges us from the first line into the world of a thirteen-year-old girl that is tired of life and its dull everyday routine. With a handful of paracetamol tablets and some baby aspirin that is years out of date, she tries to end her life. When her act of despair does not have the expected effect, she feels as if she gets a second chance; things seem to matter less now and therefore they become more bearable. However, her feeling of relief is short-lived when she comes to realise that it might take several days before the overdose has its fatal effect.

‘Killing Time’ confronts us with the fragility of life and makes us aware of the impact of subtle linguistic nuances. The story illustrates the power of words and the influence of euphemistic terms on the way we perceive reality. Moreover, it reveals how the persistent suppression of taboos renders them literally unutterable. The subtle wordplay of the title contains these several layers of meaning: on the one hand it plays with the theme of dying and with the differences in meaning between dying, killing, murdering, etc. On the other hand, ‘Killing Time’ seems to refer to the fact that the protagonist desperately tries to ‘kill time’ during the uncertain days that follow her suicide attempt.
Even though the gravity of the subject cannot be denied, Caldwell skilfully counterbalances this ‘darker side’ with the childish innocence of the naïve but witty thirteen-year-old narrator.

Caldwell, Lucy. ‘Killing Time.’ http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/killing-time-lucy-caldwell/