More Than You Can Chew by Marnelle Tokio

Author:Marnelle Tokio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tundra
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

I go to the “library,” formally known as the group therapy room. It will always be the GT room. The group torture chamber, no matter how they dress it up.

The door is gone. And the doorjambs have been ripped off, taking paint and pieces of the wall with them. A gaping chapped-lipped hole. New, heavy square chairs wrapped in thick plastic line the walls to make a semi circle. At the back of the room, by the window, sits one unwrapped chair. It’s black. No, it’s blue. Blue leather. Hard to see the color because of the glare from the frosted windows.

I walk in and sit in the chair. It barely mumbles. Its blue skin is cold. I rub its arms. The smooth ride of my palm hits some rough spots. I lean over to look. I see dark blue with pale blue scratches on its arms, like the chair had tried to slit its wrists. I laugh when I figure out the real reason for the marks.

Rhonda pokes her head into the room. “What’s so funny?”

“The chairs were too fat to fit through the door.”

“That’s what’s so funny?”

“In here, it’s hysterical.”

“Yeah, I see why you would think so,” Rhonda says and goes to one of the plastic bagged chairs and flops into it like a stuntman landing on a crash pad. She sinks as the air escapes, making her look like she’s getting smaller. “Where is everyone?”

“They’re in bugging what’s-his-name,” I say, picking at the scraped leather.

“Chris. And you’ve met him, haven’t you?” Rhonda says, looking at me.

“Yeah. He’s a real talker. Couldn’t get him to shut up.”

Rhonda does her eyebrow thing.

“How old is he?” I ask.

“Eighteen.”

“God. He looks ancient. Like he’s thirty…more like thirty-three.”

“That old, huh?” Rhonda laughs.

“What’s he doing here?”

“You’re too smart to ask stupid questions,” Rhonda says seriously.

“How long has he got?” I look at my feet.

“Who knows? A week, maybe more. The human body is an amazing thing. You guys hate it, starve it, and torture it, and it keeps on struggling to survive.”

Images of POW’s invade my head.

“Care to come back to the conversation, or do you want to stay in your head for a while?” Rhonda asks.

“I was just thinking.”

“Do you ever do that? Just think? Somehow I imagine your thoughts entering like air into one of those long straight balloons. But then you turn it and twist it into some kind of animal and then you paint it black and white….

You should try letting the balloon float around for a while. Maybe even leave it pink.”

“Two and a half questions, Rhonda.”

Rhonda nods. “Okay.”

“One. Are you calling me an airhead? Two. What are you smoking and can I have half?”

“No. Nothing and no,” Rhonda says, and laughs.

“Where are the parents?”

“Whose?”

“Chris’s.”

“At home, I guess.”

“Hiding behind the newspaper and the stock market and fresh squeezed orange juice.”

“You think you’ve got his story all figured out.” Rhonda sits up.

“What?”

“Not everyone who comes here has shitty parents.”

“But Chris’s, they’re not coming, are they? Even though he’s dying.”

“His

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.