A Long Curving Scar Where the Heart Should Be
| A LONG CURVING SCAR WHERE THE HEART SHOULD BE a short story published in Denver Quarterly |
VIEW PDF AND READ THE STORY "The candles were melted down. How tall had they been when it all began? The woman couldn't move her legs, paralytic, broken hips not yet mended. A box of matches scattered on the floor. The scissors had drawn blood. How long had it gone on? Spilt candle wax had hardened on the dirty nap of the rug. A rusted wheelchair in the corner out of reach. Maw and Whitey covered the woman with her coverlet embroidered with lavender and violet and Sweet Marie wrapped her fractured pelvis with the cut white strips of cloth and they left her. They had no time or mind for more. Then the women followed Lafayette as he crawled down the hall on the bones of his hands and knees until they got to his room and then they went in and quietly closed the door behind them and turned the key quiet in the lock." |
 |