The TV’s on in the background while my mother is talking at me. Valerie Bertinelli’s feeling ignored. Valerie’s mother is always busy, sorting out her sister’s drug overdoses, her bad skin. Valerie with big brown eyes like mine, not like mine. Valerie with brown hair like mine, not like mine. Valerie, impossibly cute like I want to be, should be but Valerie’s married to a rock star in real life. I want so hard for this to be my life, but mine is this belly, round like a basketball. My mother is saying how far along, and who is the father. I’m saying I read Valerie and Eddie want to have a baby. Valerie’s mother is saying God help me and my mother is saying oh God and I’m saying dear God what am I going to do and Valerie’s shimmering outside the TV now. My body disintegrates into static while my mother's talking in the background. Valerie’s holding out her hand. Valerie pours me a Coke. I click the remote and her mother and sister disappear. I sit down next to Valerie on the couch and she's saying listen, it’s going to be okay.
Mollie McLean is a neurodivergent housewife and writer living in Austin, Texas with her boyfriend and a bunch of used cats. Her work has been featured in
Pithead Chapel, Barren, and the
Disappointed Housewife. You can find her intermittently on Bluesky as @pennypriddy.
No comments:
Post a Comment