"EasterBirthdayThanksgivingChristmas" by Su Mielke
- 2d
- 2 min read
We’re seated at a round table so I can’t escape my sister-in-law’s sightline, can’t lean back in my chair so I disappear between two cousins, there’s no bad seat in the house my father-in-law would say; I contemplate a posture that most closely mimics invisibility, staving off the inevitable until everyone else has answered Carol’s how’ve you been like air released from overblown balloons. Like an ill-timed waitress she comes around to me while my face is stuffed with fried cheddar, voice muffled more than usual—this is my fault (decibels, remember? talk UP)—and at 2:51pm according to the cuckoo clock it begins with
“How’s your work life these days are you busy at the office or do things slow down this time of year I can’t remember if your schedule is anything like mine”
“Great, I had a good review last—”
“And I saw on Facebook you got another poem published didn’t you”
I had three published recently in different journals so I’m not sure which announcement she’s referring to so I attempt clarity with
“Well—”
And my husband answers—a verbal cattle prod, a loophole in his empty promises to resign as self-appointed spokesman (because I’m SO QUIET, see)—as if I need aid in discussing my own life, with
“Didn’t you get accepted to some anthology recently”
And I recall my father-in-law’s brilliant demeanor for times like these: a wide grin this side of gnashy in tandem with a gruff chortle that said I’m tickled by the level of pain-in-the-ass you’ve achieved but I fail to find the path to amusement so I counter with
“That was a reprint, so I don’t know which—”
“It’s great that you’re getting so many things in magazines, what are you writing now, another poem or a play, I can’t remember what you told me last time so are you still working on that”
I have no clue what that even refers to in her question but if I take one more second to respond my husband will plow in with
“It’s a fantasy story right, hon” nod nod
And before I can scream she’s all
“Fantasy! I didn’t know you could do that, congrats, what about you, Laura”—to my niece, startling her away from her phone screen—“maybe I should get all Grandma Nellie on you and ask are you seeing anyone special”
And she winks and Laura beams like an A-lister before weaving a colorful tapestry about her cohorts back in The Big Apple and I flop back, spent, cheese curds growing rubbery in their dish.
It’s only 2:53pm but my shift is finally over and Carol and I can both dust off our hands.