Sally clicked off the TV. “Bar.”
“Again?” China tugged her suitcase in and then locked the door. “He’s not going out to avoid me because I come so much, is he?”
“No.” Sally patted the couch. “It’s his letdown at the end of the week.”
“Every week?” China perched on the edge of a cushion that swallowed her.
Sally shrugged.
“Doesn’t that worry you?” China reached down and unhooked her shoes, then wiggled her toes free and rotated her ankles.
“Nah.” Sally leaned back into the sofa, her small body enveloped in its too-soft folds. “He’ll get a cab.”
“And I’ll be happy to run one of you up to get the car in the morning, but I meant… doesn’t it bug you to spend every Friday night alone? You could go with him. I can let myself in.”
“It’s boring. Him and six other drunks talking shop all night.”
“It seems like you’re ignoring a problem.” China picked up the remote control and turned it over in her hands.
“You’re single,” said Sally. “You don’t get it.”
“But I’ve dated…”
“Marriage isn’t like dating.” Sally’s voice rose for a moment, but it quickly softened. “Marriage is as much about being willing to not-see as it is about loving each other.”
“But…”
“And I’m not the only one closing my eyes. You see that spot in the wall?” Sally pointed to a jagged hole in the plaster.
“My God, did he…”
“Brian didn’t do that, Sis. I did.”
“But you’re so quiet.”
“You know how angry I get. Sometimes, the rage comes up in me like the tide, and my hands have to do something or I’ll choke.”
“But that’s…I don’t believe you could have done that.” China heaved herself off the couch to study the wounded wall.
From her cocoon in the sofa, Sally chuckled. “Now who’s the blind one?” she asked.
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I’m in blind love with Trifecta this week. Come play with a community of outstanding writers if you have time to write 333 words or so. Or, if you have something longer that you’d like to get feedback on, submit it to the new critique program. Take a look and see what you think.
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Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order. |
Ah, love. It leads us so many places we’d never go otherwise.
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That it do. And causes us to shut our eyes perhaps too often.
Never get in front of a pissed off woman. Hear me ROAR!!
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and watch the walls come crumbling down around your ears. Hiiiieeeyah!
So true–gotta be willing to tolerate a lot. However, it still doesn’t cease to amaze me how well/effortlessly you seem to do dialogue.
Hugs,
Kathy
Hop over and visit Kathy’s recent post Bad Hair Life: A History in Headbands and Bangs
Many thanks! When they talk in my head, it really helps. I was so grateful for the shrink in Lexington who understood perfectly that I wasn’t confessing to further mental illness when I said that “of course I hear people talking all the time even though they aren’t there”.
Very, very good. I really like the twist stated so solidly.
Hop over and visit Jen’s recent post Blind Spot
Thanks. I sometimes worry that I’m hitting readers over the head with ‘telling’ in these shorter pieces. I’m glad it worked for you 🙂
Is it bad that both my brother and I have put holes in drywall like that? Hm. Although I at least didn’t do it with my fist.
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Oooh feet? And no. I cannot comment about the giant holes in the plaster in our first rented house, which we repaired well enough that we even got our deposit back.
I’m not sure who is more blind. China is naive to think her sister could do no wrong, but Sally is acting like everything is ok with the marriage. Great writing!
Exactly. Sally and Brian may be in a much worse place than Sally thinks.
Oh, Jessie! Did this hit a nerve with me today, or what?? But it’s so true! In order to make a marriage work, there are things that we must be willing to not see….
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And the flipside of that is also true. In order to be humans, we have to know our own limits and take off the blinders when it gets bad. I think Sally’s blinders may be on a little too tightly, both about her husband and herself!
I *LOVE* how you implied blind rage, blind drunk, all sorts of blindness (not-seeing) without actually coming out and using the word until the very end. So, so, so well done.
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Yeah, I can not see some stuff if I have to. The holes in the walls would bother me a bit though. Unless I’d done them. 🙂 Thanks for linking up this week, Jessie. I read your comment that you worry about hitting us over the head. I don’t think you do that, and I think your writing style works well. That being said, I also think it works well enough where you can rely a bit more on showing. I get the sense that we’ll be able to follow you wherever you take us. You’re good like that.
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You did more with what was NOT written as much as you did with the excellent 33 words you did. The tensions and mixed emotions are amazing. great piece.
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I had a sweet, sweet comment all set for you, but my computer shut down, and it’s all gone. Sigh. There was something about breaking glasses when I’m angry and the unexpected side of people…
Hop over and visit Cameron’s recent post A Soap Bubble and a Sharp, Pointy Stick
Blindness, willful ignorance, timeworn – love can be all of those. You describe it perfectly, letting the scenario slowly unfold and the characters slowly reveal themselves. But she still seems hopeful. Or stubborn. 😉
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