This selection, chosen by managing editor Krista Cox, is from Boys Buy Me Drinks to Watch Me Fall Down by Anna Dickson James (Whiskey Tit 2023).
The Art of Drowning
(excerpt)
The baby bangs a glass ashtray on a glass table. I sit on the husband’s green couch and watch the news. A mother cat raced into a burning building seven times to bring out seven babies. It lost an eye, and the fire melted the mother’s face leaving a gaping, lopsided jaw. The mother cat’s whiskers are off. Fur singed. In my peripheral vision I notice the baby sucking on a copper penny.
The husband bursts through the front door. The walls startle, and plaster falls down in little ticks at his feet. He is carrying a small box. I move to the fireplace and arrange the shells that sit on our mantle.
“Hi,” the husband says.
I look past him towards the open door.
He picks up the copper penny baby.
“Hi, Little One,” he says. And then he frowns.
“What’s in your mouth?” he asks and fishes inside.
He finds the coin. The baby gags. And then coos. The baby moves quickly from gagging to cooing, from crying to laughing.
“Oh my God. A penny,” the husband says and rubs the wet coin on his pants.
“Oh my God,” I say.
“Christ, Emily. You have to be more careful.”
“My name is Elizabeth,” I say under my breath.
“What?” the husband says.
The husband drops the coin into his pocket. I put a shell to my ear and listen to the ocean waves trapped inside.
“I have to be more careful,” I say.
Anna Dickson James earned her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and is an Associate Professor of English at Garrett College in Deep Creek, Maryland. While she hasn’t lived her stories as written, she found that composing them helped her understand a time in her life when she, despite identifying as a feminist, gave up much of her personal power. Now, as a certified mindset coach she helps small groups of women find their strength and claim their autonomy.
Krista Cox is the Managing Editor of Sundress Publications, The Wardrobe, and Doubleback Review. She’s a poet and editor and currently pursuing her master’s in clinical mental health counseling. Mostly, like everyone, she’s just trying to stay hydrated while she fights the system.
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