Flashbacks
2002

by Marian Allen

January, 2002

Tree House

"We were playing," I say. "He fell."

My arm still hurts where he pinched me. I think he's dead.

I pushed him hard enough.

February, 2002

Landscape

I can see my breath. This is a picture I'll never paint: "Man with a Broken Leg in the Snow."

March, 2002

Still Life

The knot slips easily. The chair wobbles. One step, and it's done. The air is full of silence and torn betting slips.

April, 2002

Results Positive

Q: Want to? Pregnant? Do you take this man...? I drink too much? You know about us? It's over, then?

A: Yes.

May, 2002

Legacy

"Where's my ring? The one Mother left me?"

He looks in his wallet. "No idea." The wallet holds less than he had hoped, and a pawn ticket.

June, 2002

Twenty Years Later

When their youngest left the nest, he finally told her what he really thought about her. Then they had a second honeymoon.

July, 2002

After the Fight

He came home to a note: "Gone to Mom's. Back--?" An hour later, she found him weeping into a drink. She had only gone for tea....

August, 2002

Reunion

Aunts, uncles, cousins--the whole family but one--all sit down to dinner. The doorbell rings, and the long-empty plate is filled.

September, 2002

Double Blind

Night. Fog. A deer leaps into my headlights and out again. I pass through the space it leaves on its way into the hunting season.

October, 2002

Treat

"Can't resist your pumpkin pie."

"Enjoy, Pop."

He eats, winking thanks.

He vanishes. She sits in his place and eats his still-warm pie.

November, 2002

Loss

She puts on her left sock, her left shoe. Surgery, therapy, years of habit; still she sits a moment, disturbed by a sense of unfinished business.

December, 2002

Christmas Miracle

I was about to say I was allergic to dogs when I looked into my son's eyes and was cured.

The End

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