Friday, August 13, 2010

#FridayFlash #200words Getting Ready

“He’s just gotta,” she thought.
Looking into the bathroom mirror, she brushed her bangs straight down, then over to the left.  When she brushed them back over to the right, she noticed her hand was shaking.
“Wow, I need a drink,” she thought, but then grimaced.  “Tsk tsk,” she thought, not knowing what that sounded like, only knowing what it looked like in books.
She looked back into the mirror.
“I will make a good first impression, and speak clearly and confidently, and answer questions but not talk too much.”  She wondered again about her clothes, and yet again reminded herself that she didn’t have a lot of choice at this point.
“He’s just gotta,” she thought again.  “But he might not. Will he even like me at all?”
She put down the hairbrush, and looked at her hands.  Still shaking.
Exiting the bathroom, she picked up her purse from the hall table and checked for her bus pass.  She checked, again, to make sure it wasn’t expired.
“202 days sober,” she thought.  “Is that enough?”
She left the apartment to go ask the family court judge for custody of her kids.

5 comments:

Marisa Birns said...

And here I thought she was thinking about a love interest. :)

You tell a whole story here with an economy of words. We know that her drinking was instrumental in her losing her kids, and her non-drinking for so many days might be the reason for their return to her.

Well done!

J. M. Strother said...

Wham! Did not see that coming at all. Terrific punch in the gut. Loved it.
~jon

Anonymous said...

Very nicely done! Love the short ones that really wham you! Well done.

Machelle said...

Marisa, yay! That was the intent! So glad it worked.

Anonymous said...

This is so taut and focused. Reading through you expect one thing and then the sucker punch to finish you off. Awesome.
Adam B @revhappiness