Elizabeth Milligan
Writing Assignment for April 7, 2008
Voice
SHARDS
Am I her friend? Look, I flew to her wedding in Pittsburgh for God’s sake. Now, she has a kid. She and her husband and their daughter are in the City for the week-end – staying at her old apartment a few blocks away on 21st and 3rd - and I have invited them here for dinner on Saturday. I pray that the kid will sleep all the time. I know what messes those little terrors can make from visits with my brothers and their families.
My apartment here is decorated just the way I want it to be – all white, chrome, and glass with original art everywhere. And you know what, I am going to defy the baby-proofing gods and set the table with my Limoges, Baccarat, and Jensen. I always entertain with them. And damn it, I am NOT going to change anything for a kid. I’ll just tell Emma that her daughter can sleep on my bed. Emma will understand.
Thank God I asked some other friends over too. I would die if all we talked about was baby bowel movements and diaper services. I don’t think Emma would ever do that, but you never can tell … Marriage and babies do real jobs on people.
……………………
So the kid actually did sleep through dinner. And we all took our drinks a few feet to the living room. After a few minutes, Emma said she heard her daughter and that as lovely as the dinner and conversation had been, they would have to start getting ready to leave. Truth be told, as much as I loved Emma, I was ready for some peace and quiet. Emma whispered something to her husband and walked away to my room to get her daughter and their coats.
Her husband carefully lifted the coffee table over the carpet and away from the couch so that there would be room to spread the kid’s snowsuit on the floor and stuff her into it. I had to laugh – she looked so funny, like a scarecrow on a post. As soon as the kid was all zipped in, he held her in his arms, started to stand up, and turned to look at Emma.
At that moment, one of the kid’s stiff bundled arms knocked over the partially filled wine glass that her father had put down on the coffee table. It shattered against the glass table top and the wine spread and dripped on the carpet. Thank God he had chosen the white wine!
Emma was so upset and apologized all over the place. It was embarrassing. She wanted to replace the glass. I told her it had been part of a set, not to give it a second thought, and waved them out the door. After closing the door, I braced myself against the glass dining room table top. I knew who I wasn’t going to ask to my wedding!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
MEXICO, PART I of III
Elizabeth Milligan
Writing Assignment for 24 March 2008
Prompt: Shadow Box Technique
MEXICO
PART I of III
Raul
It had rained everyday for the past thirty days in El Progresso. Raul had cut a notch in a branch near his head to mark each one of them. The palm leaves woven into the roof acted like oiled ponchos and the branches were so full of water that they touched. No rain fell on his face while he counted them and thought.
It was morning and Juanita, the sister he shared a hammock with, was still asleep. He could hear morning sounds of his mother making breakfast on the other side of the room and the animals outside, grunting, clucking and snorting. It was January, a month of cold mornings. But it would be warmer when the bus arrived.
His mother was calling them to breakfast – tortillas rolled around the green peppers, tomatoes, guacamole, and chicken they had been eating for the past two days. However, Raul did not complain. He knew that meals this week-end would be better. Millie was coming from America to visit and his mother was going to make some of his favorite dishes for the occasion.
He had been seven when Millie lived with them two summers ago. There were some other Americans who came with her then, but no one as fun. Millie played Monkey in the Center in the waterfalls behind the house, rode on top of the cab on the trucks that swayed up and down the mountain, played Hide and Seek around the houses and mountain paths, clapped her hands when he sang songs, and did not wear shoes – just like him.
Millie was about as old as his big sister Lupe who was in college in Tuxtepec, taller than his mother and father, and fun like his friends. She loved Pepe, their dog. When she went back to her family in America, she sent his family a box of gifts. Two of the gifts were special dog shampoo and a brush for Pepe. Everyone thought that was very funny, but his family had used them and now Pepe looked very nice.
He had overheard the grown-ups talk about the Americans who lived with them that summer. Except for Millie, not one of the Americans had written to their families in El Progesso. This made everyone in El Progresso sad, and they were very happy that Millie was coming to visit today. They had always liked her.
The sun balanced on the pointy top of a mountain to the place west of the lake where it disappeared every day. He and Nita wandered halfway down the mountain to the smooth ground where the bus always stopped before it went back down to Ixcatlan. Their mother had instructed them to wait there for Lupe and Millie.
On the way there, they had picked up two large sticks to stir mud with and to poke at weeds, stones, and each other. Raul also brought the little toy car that Millie gave him two years ago. Except for black tires and a white roof, the outside was all light green. There was a green fin of metal on each side of the back, too.
Now, one of the wheels was wobbly so Raul could only fly it in the air. When it was new, the car would go by itself after he dragged it backwards on the ground and then gave it a short, strong push forward. Raul hoped she was bringing him a new car.
All of a sudden, he and Nita saw the bus from Ixcatlan. At first, they could only see a tiny bit of rusty silver, but as the bus peeked over the last crest this far up the mountain road, they saw more and more of it. It rocked from left to right, puffs of black smoke came out of the end, people and animals crowded the windows, and there was Millie – holding onto the metal bar on top of the cab with one hand and waving with the other. Her pack was held down by ropes. A new car could fit in that pack – easy.
Writing Assignment for 24 March 2008
Prompt: Shadow Box Technique
MEXICO
PART I of III
Raul
It had rained everyday for the past thirty days in El Progresso. Raul had cut a notch in a branch near his head to mark each one of them. The palm leaves woven into the roof acted like oiled ponchos and the branches were so full of water that they touched. No rain fell on his face while he counted them and thought.
It was morning and Juanita, the sister he shared a hammock with, was still asleep. He could hear morning sounds of his mother making breakfast on the other side of the room and the animals outside, grunting, clucking and snorting. It was January, a month of cold mornings. But it would be warmer when the bus arrived.
His mother was calling them to breakfast – tortillas rolled around the green peppers, tomatoes, guacamole, and chicken they had been eating for the past two days. However, Raul did not complain. He knew that meals this week-end would be better. Millie was coming from America to visit and his mother was going to make some of his favorite dishes for the occasion.
He had been seven when Millie lived with them two summers ago. There were some other Americans who came with her then, but no one as fun. Millie played Monkey in the Center in the waterfalls behind the house, rode on top of the cab on the trucks that swayed up and down the mountain, played Hide and Seek around the houses and mountain paths, clapped her hands when he sang songs, and did not wear shoes – just like him.
Millie was about as old as his big sister Lupe who was in college in Tuxtepec, taller than his mother and father, and fun like his friends. She loved Pepe, their dog. When she went back to her family in America, she sent his family a box of gifts. Two of the gifts were special dog shampoo and a brush for Pepe. Everyone thought that was very funny, but his family had used them and now Pepe looked very nice.
He had overheard the grown-ups talk about the Americans who lived with them that summer. Except for Millie, not one of the Americans had written to their families in El Progesso. This made everyone in El Progresso sad, and they were very happy that Millie was coming to visit today. They had always liked her.
The sun balanced on the pointy top of a mountain to the place west of the lake where it disappeared every day. He and Nita wandered halfway down the mountain to the smooth ground where the bus always stopped before it went back down to Ixcatlan. Their mother had instructed them to wait there for Lupe and Millie.
On the way there, they had picked up two large sticks to stir mud with and to poke at weeds, stones, and each other. Raul also brought the little toy car that Millie gave him two years ago. Except for black tires and a white roof, the outside was all light green. There was a green fin of metal on each side of the back, too.
Now, one of the wheels was wobbly so Raul could only fly it in the air. When it was new, the car would go by itself after he dragged it backwards on the ground and then gave it a short, strong push forward. Raul hoped she was bringing him a new car.
All of a sudden, he and Nita saw the bus from Ixcatlan. At first, they could only see a tiny bit of rusty silver, but as the bus peeked over the last crest this far up the mountain road, they saw more and more of it. It rocked from left to right, puffs of black smoke came out of the end, people and animals crowded the windows, and there was Millie – holding onto the metal bar on top of the cab with one hand and waving with the other. Her pack was held down by ropes. A new car could fit in that pack – easy.
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