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Drabble Corner

Michelle Swisz

Our Drabble for this month, on the theme of Being Realistic, is Dinner Time, by Marlene Barth.

Dinner Time

She stopped typing and looked at the clock by her computer. Damn! Time to start dinner for Mom already! Her mother, age 93, lived with her and her husband. Her mother liked to eat early, and her husband liked to eat late. That meant two meals nightly.

"I'm going to start dinner for you now, Mother. Ready in thirty minutes."

"OK," came the reply.

She was glad there were leftovers tonight. Roast beef, mashed potatoes and asparagus.

Not to forget dessert! Even breakfast had to end with a donut.

"Dinner is ready, Mom."

"Oh, you want me to eat now?"

Over the last many years, he’s been with you whenever he could be. So you know that this time, as usual, he’ll walk in the front door, and kiss your socks off before he takes off his shoes. He’ll ask you how your day was today, and then reach for you during the night.

But now, suddenly, he tells you there might be a change in plans. What? MIGHT be? It would almost be easier for you just to know right now, but he himself doesn’t know yet either. And it would almost be easier to just pre-empt the decision with one of your own, but you can’t seem to withdraw so easily.

In reality, it was never really known how you’d be spending the next few minutes, never mind the next five years. So many things can happen over years—so many things can happen right now! So your heart is on the ground one minute, then beating in place again the next in the belief that one does, in the end, tend to live through bad romantic news. You build strength through the struggle to live through it, etc.

In the meantime, you see that you never really knew but only thought you did, during the day, the days, that he’d be back. And now you really DO know that you don’t know if he’ll be back—ever. Uncertainty—what is it for you? What is it, in general?

Our theme for July is Uncertainty. Here again are the Drabble Guidelines—in summary, a Drabble is exactly 100 words, excluding the title, and is due the 10th of the month prior to the month you’re submitting for. So the July Drabble submissions are due by June 10th. Send submissions to Drabble@wvu.org.

See you next month!