Flash Fiction: Spilt Milk by Densie Webb
Spilt Milk
By Densie Webb
She couldn’t point to a day marked in red on the calendar when everything had fallen apart. It had been a methodical, exquisitely painful dissection.
In the beginning he was there, serving up his seductive behavior like a mouthwatering, seven-course meal. And she lacked the willpower to walk away. In the end, she had sacrificed her job, her friends, and her common sense just to eat at the same table with him.
It had taken her fifteen tumultuous years to realize there was no beautifully sensitive man on the inside waiting to emerge, to embrace her and promise the security, warmth, and understanding she was certain was hibernating, just waiting to awaken from a deep slumber.
The warning signs were there all along, but she had always given allowances for the tears he triggered. Didn’t they always passionately make up once she apologized? When Adam was born, she clung to the hope that being a father would change him into the caring man she so desperately longed for.
The fantasy was stubborn.
Still, it felt sudden the day she realized she no longer anxiously awaited his return, her pulse quickening in anticipation of being with him again. Now her heart sank at the sound of his key in the door. Another evening of accusations, instructions, and lectures, followed by angry silences. They no longer talked about anything, except Adam, and even that led to outbursts targeting her inadequacies as a mother. She had learned over the years that silence was the best defense. And she had, little-by-little, day-by-day, retreated into herself.
That day, back from shopping with the allotted grocery money he had left for her on the kitchen counter, she opened the refrigerator to place a newly purchased carton of milk inside. Her stomach lurched. There it was—the damning evidence at her soon-to-be trial—a full, unopened carton. He had, as always, instructed her to check before buying another carton, and accused her of being wasteful—an unforgiveable fraction of his rules. She considered pouring the newly purchased carton down the sink and throwing away the empty container, burying the evidence at the bottom of the garbage to avoid the accusations over her inability to follow his simple instructions.
The realization that she had disappeared under his overpowering influence washed over her and left her flailing, grabbing for solid ground. But she could feel traces of herself crawling back to shore, drenched and battered, but ready to start anew.
She clambered up the stairs to the attic and grabbed her dust-covered suitcase, then her purse, her cell. She would pick up Adam from school early, fill up the tank, go by the bank. As she passed the family photos in the hallway, she caught a replay of their life together. The one in which her handsome Prince Charming had swooped in and rescued her. It had never been real.
She stopped on her way out to leave two empty milk cartons on the kitchen counter and taped her last words on the refrigerator.
I left milk money for you on the counter.
—
The fiction bug bit her several years ago and she now has two novels, When and Robins Appear and Le Reméde .
She also recently had her essay: “Boob Job Regrets: In Appreciation of Your Previously Small Chest,” included in an anthology compiled by Randy Susan Meyers, titled Women Under Scrutiny: An Anthology of Truths, Essays, Poems, Stories & Art. All proceeds from the anthology go to Rosie’s Place in Boston, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women. And her flash fiction piece, The Prank, was in the top ten finalists for Women on Writing’s Summer 2019 Flash Fiction contest.
Website: www.densiewebb.com
Facebook: Densie L. Webb
Twitter: @dlwebb
With a lucrative freelance career and a loving family, Deborah Earle has a life many women would envy. But her daughter, Amanda, is heading to college soon, and Deborah worries about having an empty nest. She thinks another child might be the answer. Her husband, Richard, however, may not be willing to start over so late in life.
Amanda is excited about attending NYU next year, but she meets Graham, a handsome older boy, falls hard, and considers postponing her education to stay close to him. Her mother takes an instant dislike to Graham, but Amanda refuses to let her keep them apart.
As Deborah watches her daughter rush headlong toward heartache on an all-too-familiar path, the secrets lurking in Deborah’s past continue to echo in her present. When tragedy strikes, Deborah faces a future she could never have imagined.
Category: On Writing
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