Aunt Lucy blurts that Uncle Jay’s wife got an abortion in ’95. Like a lid clamped on a sizzling pan of sautée, the table goes quiet. Bee feigns interest in keeping catsup drippings out of her coleslaw. Jay turns in slo-mo to Bee, eyes bugging out of his sockets. Forks mid-air, my teenage cousins gape at each other. Little Denny, swinging his heels and chewing bratwurst, shouts, “WHAT’S BORR-SHUN?” Grandma Jean cuts in with how ice cream is what’s for dessert, and won’t that be nice? which tells me she knew all along, and she can’t wait to strangle Lucy.
Jenny Logan
6/5/2022 07:51:16 am
I can almost feel the atmosphere reading this.
Pamela Kennedy
6/5/2022 10:01:06 am
Such a realistic scene you created...well done!
Cindy Patrick
6/5/2022 01:18:34 pm
I concur with Pamela. Real and well done.
Sue Clayton
7/5/2022 02:28:09 am
Beats the usual boring dinner conversations.
Catherine Evans
8/5/2022 09:04:06 pm
I can feel the heat and the fan swishing ineffectively overhead. Great story.
Shoshauna Shy
17/5/2022 11:35:14 pm
Thank you, everyone. In every large family, there's the need to keep straight what secrets you can share and with whom, and which ones you never can. That's what I was trying to show. Comments are closed.
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"Classic"
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