Sand Queen by Helen Benedict

Author:Helen Benedict [Benedict, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary
ISBN: 9781569479667
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2010-12-31T05:00:00+00:00

THE SOLDIER IS back in the therapy circle, refusing again to talk. This is her new strategy, her way of protesting. If they’re going to force her to listen to all these other losers, she, at least, isn’t going to join in. It’s none of their goddamn business anyhow, what she’s been through. Why she’s here.

“Kate,” Dr. Pokerass says then, turning to her with a smile like an anaconda’s. “We heard about the problems you had with your parents when they visited last week. I wondered if you would like to share your feelings about what happened?”

The soldier can’t believe her fucking ears. This is just like being back in her platoon, everybody knowing everyone else’s friggin’ business.

“It would be more productive if you would join in once in a while, Kate,” Pokerass goes on. “We only want to help. Perhaps you have feelings of anger toward your parents because they supported your decision to enlist? It might help you to talk about it.”

Dr. Pokerass has the soldier’s whole sorry history right there in a file on her lap. So, since she’s got the answers already, why bother to talk?

“My parents were the opposite,” Corporal Betty Boop chimes in, although nobody asked her squeaky opinion. “My mom said she’d let me sign up over her dead body. So I waited till I was eighteen and she couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Mine, too,” says the Vietnam nurse whose hubby knocks her around. “They didn’t want me to join at all. Said it was only for boys. They were damn right, too.”

That’s when the soldier gets her idea. She’s going to escape. They can’t keep her here, torturing her like this. It’s not a prison. She can leave whenever she wants.

The thought cheers her up so much she decides to talk after all.

“You’re an asshole,” she says to Betty Boop, and stands up. “You’re all assholes.”

And she walks out.

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