FICTION

special guest: Laurie Frankel

prompt: Write a memory of water or food. 

The noise from the grandparents with a screaming child was far too much, brain-numbing and head-pounding. Endless arguments about a grocery trip that everyone is dreading to go to for some reason. The day was bleak and cloudy, switching up from rain that was deafeningly loud plopping on the windows to a whisper of wind that turned to a howl in a matter of seconds. It was too much.

They were talking over each other, non-stop, asking about “Y que vamos a comer?” and “No quiero llevar al niña. ‘ta malita. Porque no vallas?”

No one could make up their mind, and while I was already halfway through deciding on whether or not to leave early for the day, I shot up. “Me voy” I didn’t mean to be that loud. It seemed to stop everyone in their tracks, even the two-year-old fiending for some more orange juice even though she said her stomach hurt. “Que necesitan?” I prompted again, scanning the room and looking at a surprised mom and unimpressed dad.

“Birotes y jitomates -- ‘amos hacer birote con frijoles y huevo con salsita.” My mom responds quickly, her face still wonder what could’ve lit the fuse yet again.

I just nodded, grabbed my small over-the-shoulder black bag, gripped my wallet, and reached for my keys on the communal keyholder. “Ya vengo.”

The ride to the store was unassuming and uneventful, aside from the fact that the time it took to select the music for the car ride was longer than the drive to the store itself.  It was loud, but a different kind of loud: Something that I could control. 

further instruction: Take the scene, and switch the characters of genders -- what does it change from the scene? What does it buy/cost you?