Coming Clean by Beth Uznis Johnson

Author:Beth Uznis Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Published: 2024-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Friday: Retouching

You can always come back later

to check your work.

Dawn stood in the cleaning aisle of the Superstore, scanning the glimmering bottles of cleaners, disinfectants, and scrubs. At eye level were the medium-sized bottles of Dawn dish soap in an overabundance of colors and varieties, from the traditional green and blue she remembered from childhood to the more modern purples and pinks. She couldn’t believe the choices these days: Dawn with Olay Beauty, Dawn with OXI power, Dawn with bleach alternative. Her favorite had always been the straight-up orange, the antibacterial/hand soap combination. Down the line were a selection of mops and buckets. She squinted beneath the florescent lights and wondered how anyone could work in a place like this for an eight-hour stretch. She hated coming here and hated more that she had to fork out cash to replace the supplies she’d left at the Chens’.

At least she’d gotten drunk on Justice’s dime last night. She was too tired to be sufficiently mortified about being rejected, but partially grateful for his morality. They’d most likely laugh about it when they saw each other next, whereas if they’d slept together she’d have probably lost a friend. At a time she hadn’t any left to lose.

She tossed the orange Dawn into the cart.

Dawn chose a traditional broom, the kind with the straw-colored bristles, though it cost twice as much as the one with the blue plastic stick and red bristles. A good broom was worth it. The ends on her old broom had split so she didn’t mind having to buy a new one. The bucket and other stuff irritated her as she calculated prices. Money wasted, all thanks to Matthew and Jen.

Matthew and Jen, such a pair, except she couldn’t stop thinking about Matthew’s face when she admitted she remembered. Justice had seen it too. One night together, ages ago, before they really knew each other. She’d been even more fucked up then, confused and out of control. She’d run into the photographer from the hospital at the liquor store. His name was Matthew, he’d said. She should come over tonight, he was having people over. Come on, she could follow him there. Dawn had paid for her bottle of whiskey and walked beneath his arm when he held open the door.

Hours later, Dawn lifted her gaze from Matthew’s portfolio. Everyone else had left. She’d been flipping pages for at least an hour. She had never lost her sense of the outside world before. The empty apartment stunned her, but more than that, she experienced a pull back to the dreamlike place she’d found in his photographs. Matthew sat on the couch.

“I’m not leaving until I’m done,” she said. “It’s like an open beer. You have to finish.”

“Take all the time you want. I have my whiskey and this magazine.”

So she’d continued flipping the pages, photograph after photograph, until her throat swelled and she wanted to cry. She sat without moving for a long time, listening to the swish of Matthew’s pages.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.