Jewelweed by David Rhodes

Author:David Rhodes [Rhodes, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781571318831
Publisher: Milkweed Editions

The New Dress

Danielle Workhouse had never owned a dress like the one she had now, and the unfamiliarity heightened the experience. Inside it, she never stopped noticing the merriment of silk against her skin, the soft brush of the hem against her leg, the tug on her shoulder, the affectionate fabric hug around the waist. And she was equally unfamiliar with how delightful her feet appeared in the right shoes. An alarming gaiety leaped into her each time she looked down.

Because the mirror in her apartment failed to provide an adequate view of her new outfit, on several occasions she carried the heels down the hardwood hall, slipped them on, and stole a couple treasured glances in the larger mirror in the entryway. She looked good, and she wanted to look good in a way she couldn’t remember ever wanting before.

When Danielle was growing up, her father and later her stepfather had ruled their decrepit home with such holy, tyrannical fear that she and her younger sister tried to the very best of their abilities never to attract notice. Dart and Esther crept from room to room with the trained vigilance of mice. They were never encouraged to look good, only to be invisible. During those times when domestic life threatened most ominously—when a hulking embodiment of irrational maliciousness lumbered nearby, drunkenly lecturing inanimate objects, boasting of former and future deeds, proclaiming the inalienable right to alienable freedoms—they hid in closets, cupboards, and clothes hampers. As they grew older, their skills of concealment grew proportionately.

Ridicule, badgering, and beatings were common, though never routine, when Dart was growing up. In fact, nothing could ever be predicted. Signs read from a parent’s expression at the breakfast table at seven thirty could be rendered meaningless by nine o’clock. Everything was uncertain. It was best to always remain on guard, even when it seemed reasonable to feel safe for a short time.

Dart learned how to detect the slightest changes in human posture, voice, breathing, skin color, even smell—revealing a new disposition coming to the fore, or deviation from normal thought patterns. She also learned to trust even the slightest impressions informing her of intentions on the part of others. Her sister, Esther, took this cautionary principle a step further, completely banishing from her mind all the empathetic susceptibilities that made benign assessments possible; she didn’t just dismiss favorable judgments of other people, she never made them. Esther simply assumed that everyone wanted to harm her, regardless of what they might say or do. The consequences of not being prepared far outweighed whatever vagrant peace she might enjoy by assuming the coast was clear.

Soon after their father was returned to prison for beating their mother (never for beating them, of course), Dart and Esther’s mother met the man who would later become their stepfather. With him came a new form of tyranny, in addition to the old demands for rigid compliance with all drunken proclamations. This stepfather became virulently religious following his extended bouts of

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.