The Mare

Ginger

I told her we couldn’t do Catholic school because we couldn’t afford it. She was quiet and then said, “I understand.” I don’t remember what we talked about then, just that she kept stopping to scream at her brother, who was screaming at her. I asked when she wanted to come ride. She said she didn’t know, she needed to help her mother at home. Her mother didn’t have her job anymore and they needed to get the house clean so that they could get a boarder.

I wanted to talk to Paul and I couldn’t. I couldn’t even feel him when I lay next to him that night, except distantly, like something chaotic happening somewhere far away from me.