The Sky Between You and Me by Catherine Alene

Author:Catherine Alene
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2016-12-08T05:00:00+00:00

Quick Change

“Are you ready?” Dad calls up the stairs.

Almost. I just…

“What?”

I broke my zipper.

A spontaneous excuse

Knowing I can’t wear this dress

Tonight

Dad’s boots echo on the stairs

Because there isn’t a zipper

The multiplier on his belt

Can’t fix

I yank the dress over my head

Shove my legs into my jeans

Arms back into my hoodie

My hands do it

Before my mind thinks

Yank the zipper

Hard and fast

Leaving the fabric

Frayed where it used to run

A courtesy knock

And my bedroom door swings open

Dad steps in

Sees me standing

With Blue at my feet

My dress in my hands

“Let me see this thing,” Dad says.

Exhaling a low whistle

As he runs his thumb along the zipper

I know he can’t fix

“Do you have a plan B?”

No. This was the only dress I had that would have worked.

“Pants?”

Dad knows the answer

By the look on my face

“Pretend I didn’t ask.”

It’s stupid

Because now I’m crying

Really crying

Over this dress I didn’t even love

Leaving Dad to shift his weight

From one foot to the other

Hating problems like this

Ones he knows he can’t fix

“Maybe your mom…” he begins

Pausing as he

Hears how present tense

These words sound

“In her closet. There might be something that would work.”

Dad chews his bottom lip

Wondering if this was the right thing

To have said

I wonder if he knows

How I used to crawl into her closet

Closing the doors behind me

To sit on the floor

In the dark

With the smell of her

I’m not small like that

Not anymore

So I haven’t looked lately

Which doesn’t mean I don’t remember

The color of every skirt

Every dress

Hanging there

My breath does a stutter stop in my throat

As I inhale and nod my head

Wondering if anything

That belongs (belonged)

To my mom

Will fit

Me

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