Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips

Author:Jayne Anne Phillips
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307808813
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2011-11-08T22:00:00+00:00

Tonight her mother would leave after supper for Ohio. Jancy would be alone in the house and she would stare at the telephone. She tore lettuce while her mother broiled the steaks.

I don’t know why you want to drive all the way up there at night, Jancy said. Why don’t you leave in the morning?

I can make better time at night, her mother said. And besides, the wedding is in two days. Your aunt wanted me to come last week. It’s not every day her only daughter gets married, and since you refuse to go to weddings …

She paused. They heard the meat crackle in the oven.

I’m sorry to leave when you’ve just gotten here. I thought you’d be here two weeks ago, and we’d have some time before I left. But you’ll be here when I get back.

Jancy looked intently into the salad bowl.

Jancy? asked her mother. Why are you so late getting here? Why didn’t you write?

I was just busy … finishing the term, packing, subletting the apartment—

You could have phoned.

I didn’t want to. I hate calling long-distance. It makes me feel lost, listening to all that static.

That’s ridiculous, her mother said. Let’s get this table cleared off. I don’t know why you always come in and dump everything on the first available spot.

Because I believe in instant relief, Jancy said.

—books, backpack, maps, your purse—

She reached for the books and Jancy’s leather purse fell to the floor. Its contents spilled and rolled. She bent to retrieve the mess before Jancy could stop her, picking up small plastic bottles of pills.

What are these? she said. What are you doing with all these pills?

I cleaned out my medicine cabinet and threw all the bottles in my purse. They’re pills I’ve had for years—

Don’t you think you better throw them away? You might forget what you’re taking.

They’re all labeled, Jancy said.

Her mother glanced down.

Dalmane, she said. What’s Dalmane?

A sleeping pill.

Why would you need sleeping pills?

Because I have trouble sleeping. Why do you think?

Since when?

I don’t know. A long time. Off and on. Will you cut it out with the third degree?

Why can’t you sleep?

Because I dream my mother is relentlessly asking me questions.

It’s Michael. Michael’s thrown you for a loop.

Jancy threw the bottles in her purse and stood up quickly. No, she said, Or yes. We’re both upset right now.

He certainly is. You’re lucky to be rid of him.

I don’t want to be rid of him.

He’ll drive you crazy if you’re not careful. He’s got a screw loose and you know it.

You liked him, Jancy said. You liked him so much it made me angry.

Yes, I liked him. But not after this whole mess started. Calling you cruel because he couldn’t have things his way. If he was so in love it would have lasted. Cruel. There’s not a cruel bone in your body.

I should never have told you he said those things.

They were silent. Jancy smelled the meat cooking.

Why shouldn’t you tell me? her mother asked quietly. If you can’t talk to your mother, who can you talk to?

Oh Christ, Jancy said.

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