And Then You Apply Ice by Pamela Gwyn Kripke

Author:Pamela Gwyn Kripke [Kripke, Gwyn Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Books
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

“What is it that you are lacking in your life, Samantha, that you needed to bring home a stray animal from Philadelphia?” my father asked after I secured my seat belt.

It was the nucleus of the issue, elucidated succinctly and precisely. I was sure that he knew what I was lacking, but he wanted me to state it, to hear the words bellow and hover, to expose me, embarrass me, teach me. My mother turned in her seat and cowered, as if she’d confronted a snow leopard. I looked out at Eighth Avenue, at people leaving their full-time non-month-to-month jobs, at couples in stride, at the beautiful day beyond the glass. I didn’t answer my father’s question.

Flash stepped all over my thighs and panted. He rubbed his nose on my neck and licked my chin. I didn’t want him touching me or liking me or thinking that he was mine. I wanted to open the door and push him out, close my eyes while he fought me, shove him while he gripped me with his nails. Not look back as he found his way to the curb, tail tucked. I wanted to turn around, start over. Take me back to Our Lady. Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

The next morning, my mother posted a sign at the school where she taught, and by three o’clock, Flash was excised from my life like the mushy part of a melon. A second-grade girl came with her parents to our front porch. She dropped to her knees and held his face, whispering that she couldn’t believe it and that she loved him and would take care of him forever. I handed her Geoffrey’s fashionable green leash, and she led Flash to their car.

“He’s a nice dog,” my mother called from the step, solidifying the arrangement. She stood for a brief moment and then hurried inside the house.

The little girl turned and waved. She bent down and hugged Flash with her entire body, flopping her chest onto his spine, her head onto his. She followed him into the rear seat, and they drove off.

Inside, my mother was starting dinner. “Well, that worked out. What a relief.”

“Flash is a lucky boy.”

“I’ll say.” She put a pan on the stove. “I thought I’d make the chicken you like, with the garlic. God knows how you managed for months without a kitchen.”

I smiled. “Yeah, God knows.”

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