I Walk The Line

I have been working my way through the current issue of Image: a journal of the arts and religion and I came across an interesting short story by Zoe Mullery entitled I Walk The Line. I thought I would share a few paragraphs with you:

She eased herself out of bed and went to the refrigerator. She had seen Penny put a bag of miniature Hershey bars in there, for Adrian’s lunches. She found it right in front and pulled the whole bag and dumped all the candy bars on the kitchen table. Then she sat down the dark, opening one tiny packet after another and chewing the cold, sweet chocolate until it melted and ran down her throat. One after another, she littered the table with foil wrappers until she finished the whole bag. Her anxiety was driven back by the sweetness, by the sweet fullness in her gut. The galaxy spun away and became a stomach again, a warm, full place with a sweet chocolate baby inside her. When she ate the last candy bar, she swept all the wrappers into the bag and shoved the bag under the top layer of the trash in the can where it might not be noticed.
Then she went into the bathroom, locked the door, took out the big plastic bottle and sat on the closed toilet sipping whiskey as fast as she could make herself drink it, until her head started blossoming in that way she needed. She screwed the cap back on and stuck the bottle back in the tank, trying to be quiet.

Kevin Holtsberry
I work in communications and public affairs. I try to squeeze in as much reading as I can while still spending time with my wife and two kids (and cheering on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Michigan Wolverines during football season).