A Weekday, Four O’Clock (nominated for a Pushcart Prize)

I missed my mother, so I put on her wedding gown and veil while watching daytime TV. One Life to Live had been her favorite because of the cold open, those ghost faces superimposed over landmarks in a fictional town where she planned to remake herself real. I was partial to the one with the hourglass running out while the voiceover said a simile about dwindling days because even then I was desperate to know how people passed time. General Hospital was on, not one of our favorites, but I’d screwed up the time slot. We’d disliked Laura and Luke’s wedding for different reasons, my mother because they wasted money, me because I was seven and didn’t want to marry anyone but my mother.  continue reading