Fiction: Bare Feet
While (not) preparing for my presentation... I wrote something.
It's completely different from what I normally write and has me a bit weirded out.
Title: Bare Feet
Author:
orockthro
Category: Short fiction
Summary: Jo watched her brother Jim drown, but she didn't mind. It was no big deal.
Bare Feet
Jo threw her bare foot up against the wall and let gravity pull at her toes. The knowledge that her foot would fall to the ground coupled with not knowing when sent a tiny shiver up her leg.
She was naked, and the concrete she lay against was course and bit into her back and butt cheeks. It was a high contrast from the intense smoothness of the empty pool’s tile wall that her foot rested against. It was empty. Dry. Had been for months. Ever since Jim drowned.
It was no big deal. That’s what Jo had said to the school councilor. That’s when they started putting her on the medications. No, that wasn’t right. They put her on the medications when she had mentioned how she had watched Jim float to the bottom of the pool. How she hadn’t jumped in after him. How she just went back to reading her book. How she didn’t stop reading her book when the ambulance came screaming up her driveway after her father had seen Jim’s shadowy form from the window.
It was no big deal. She didn’t mind the meds.
Her foot slipped and came crashing down the concrete. She let it fall. That was half the fun.
She didn’t mind the meds, but she didn’t take the little blue ones. She hid them in her shoes and then planted them in the neighbor’s garden. They hadn’t figured out why none of their roses were growing yet. She swallowed the yellow ones that made her feel sick. She didn’t mind those.
Jo flipped over onto her stomach, and a rush of cold hit her backside at the same time as the shock of the freezing cement made contact with her breasts and belly. She liked looking at the concrete. It was full of little crevices and rocks and grit and sand and ants. There would have been little plants too, except that the pool chemicals had killed off anything living. It was like a little world, a little planet’s surface. If you looked hard enough, you might even see yourself, a tiny speck of nothing.
Jim had been on his belly too.
She didn’t mind.
A few weeks after Jim had drowned, she began to see doctors. All sorts of doctors who gave her all sorts of meds. Mrs. Lucy was today’s. Unlike the others, she would come to the house.
“Hello, Jo.”
Jo rolled over again and lay spread eagle, exposed to the cold and to Mrs. Lucy. She didn’t mind.
“Why are you in the pool?” Mrs. Lucy was the sort of doctor that liked asking questions. Even more than the others. And Mrs. Lucy only gave Jo one sort of pill to take, the creamy-pink ones that were shaped like squished marbles. Mrs. Lucy sat with her legs dangling over the edge, her ankles crossed, and with a blank expression.
Jo shrugged and felt the concrete rub against her bare shoulders. “I like the pool.”
“Even when there’s no water?”
Jo shrugged again. She liked it the same.
“Do you remember why there’s no water?”
“‘Cause Jim.”
“How about we talk about that?”
“We talked about that last week,” Jo stated. Mrs. Lucy was dressed in a pink skirt that reminded her of the squished-marble pills she had to take.
“I know, but I’d like to continue that conversation. I think we were doing pretty well last week, don’t you?”
Jo shrugged. She felt an ant squish beneath her elbow. It was no big deal.
“Did you like Jim?”
“Sure.”
Mrs. Lucy pulled out a pen and wrote something down in her little notebook. The pen was pink too.
“You were older than him, right?”
Jo nodded. “Four years.”
“And he was ten?”
Jo shrugged. Mrs. Lucy already knew all this.
The pink pen was put away and the doctor sighed. Did you write in your journal like I asked you to, Jo?”
Jo shook her head back and forth. “No.” She liked the way the little bumps of the concrete felt as they poked at her through her black hair.
Mrs. Lacy sighed again. “Jo, do you want to get better?”
Jo shrugged. It was no big deal. She didn’t mind. She rolled back over on to her belly. This was where Jim had been.
Mrs. Lucy left soon after. Jo could hear her father talking to the doctor from the open kitchen window.
“I just don’t understand why she’s not improving. It’s been months!” That was her father. He sounded funny.
Jo rubbed her nose against the pool’s floor. It still smelled like chlorine.
“This sort of thing takes time, Mr. Winters,” Mrs. Lucy said back. She even sounded pink.
Jo licked the sandy cement. It tasted like chlorine too.
“Do you think she’d be better off somewhere else?” Jo’s father sounded even funnier than before. She didn’t mind.
She crawled over to where Jim had been and licked that surface too.
Mrs. Lucy didn’t say anything, but Jo guessed she sighed. She did that a lot. “Last week I would have said no, that family bonds were important.” There was another pause. “This week, though… Jo is a very troubled girl.”
Just chlorine. No Jim.
“Do you know of a good place? Somewhere she’d be happy? Somewhere she could get an education too?” There was a clunk. Elbow hitting table? “I mean… she can’t even go to school any more…”
“I do know of a place, actually…”
Jo stopped listening. She’d licked up an ant. It tasted like chlorine too. She licked her arm and then her knee before lying back down on her back and letting the concrete bite into her once again.
She tasted like chlorine too.
It's completely different from what I normally write and has me a bit weirded out.
Title: Bare Feet
Author:
orockthro
Category: Short fiction
Summary: Jo watched her brother Jim drown, but she didn't mind. It was no big deal.
Bare Feet
Jo threw her bare foot up against the wall and let gravity pull at her toes. The knowledge that her foot would fall to the ground coupled with not knowing when sent a tiny shiver up her leg.
She was naked, and the concrete she lay against was course and bit into her back and butt cheeks. It was a high contrast from the intense smoothness of the empty pool’s tile wall that her foot rested against. It was empty. Dry. Had been for months. Ever since Jim drowned.
It was no big deal. That’s what Jo had said to the school councilor. That’s when they started putting her on the medications. No, that wasn’t right. They put her on the medications when she had mentioned how she had watched Jim float to the bottom of the pool. How she hadn’t jumped in after him. How she just went back to reading her book. How she didn’t stop reading her book when the ambulance came screaming up her driveway after her father had seen Jim’s shadowy form from the window.
It was no big deal. She didn’t mind the meds.
Her foot slipped and came crashing down the concrete. She let it fall. That was half the fun.
She didn’t mind the meds, but she didn’t take the little blue ones. She hid them in her shoes and then planted them in the neighbor’s garden. They hadn’t figured out why none of their roses were growing yet. She swallowed the yellow ones that made her feel sick. She didn’t mind those.
Jo flipped over onto her stomach, and a rush of cold hit her backside at the same time as the shock of the freezing cement made contact with her breasts and belly. She liked looking at the concrete. It was full of little crevices and rocks and grit and sand and ants. There would have been little plants too, except that the pool chemicals had killed off anything living. It was like a little world, a little planet’s surface. If you looked hard enough, you might even see yourself, a tiny speck of nothing.
Jim had been on his belly too.
She didn’t mind.
A few weeks after Jim had drowned, she began to see doctors. All sorts of doctors who gave her all sorts of meds. Mrs. Lucy was today’s. Unlike the others, she would come to the house.
“Hello, Jo.”
Jo rolled over again and lay spread eagle, exposed to the cold and to Mrs. Lucy. She didn’t mind.
“Why are you in the pool?” Mrs. Lucy was the sort of doctor that liked asking questions. Even more than the others. And Mrs. Lucy only gave Jo one sort of pill to take, the creamy-pink ones that were shaped like squished marbles. Mrs. Lucy sat with her legs dangling over the edge, her ankles crossed, and with a blank expression.
Jo shrugged and felt the concrete rub against her bare shoulders. “I like the pool.”
“Even when there’s no water?”
Jo shrugged again. She liked it the same.
“Do you remember why there’s no water?”
“‘Cause Jim.”
“How about we talk about that?”
“We talked about that last week,” Jo stated. Mrs. Lucy was dressed in a pink skirt that reminded her of the squished-marble pills she had to take.
“I know, but I’d like to continue that conversation. I think we were doing pretty well last week, don’t you?”
Jo shrugged. She felt an ant squish beneath her elbow. It was no big deal.
“Did you like Jim?”
“Sure.”
Mrs. Lucy pulled out a pen and wrote something down in her little notebook. The pen was pink too.
“You were older than him, right?”
Jo nodded. “Four years.”
“And he was ten?”
Jo shrugged. Mrs. Lucy already knew all this.
The pink pen was put away and the doctor sighed. Did you write in your journal like I asked you to, Jo?”
Jo shook her head back and forth. “No.” She liked the way the little bumps of the concrete felt as they poked at her through her black hair.
Mrs. Lacy sighed again. “Jo, do you want to get better?”
Jo shrugged. It was no big deal. She didn’t mind. She rolled back over on to her belly. This was where Jim had been.
Mrs. Lucy left soon after. Jo could hear her father talking to the doctor from the open kitchen window.
“I just don’t understand why she’s not improving. It’s been months!” That was her father. He sounded funny.
Jo rubbed her nose against the pool’s floor. It still smelled like chlorine.
“This sort of thing takes time, Mr. Winters,” Mrs. Lucy said back. She even sounded pink.
Jo licked the sandy cement. It tasted like chlorine too.
“Do you think she’d be better off somewhere else?” Jo’s father sounded even funnier than before. She didn’t mind.
She crawled over to where Jim had been and licked that surface too.
Mrs. Lucy didn’t say anything, but Jo guessed she sighed. She did that a lot. “Last week I would have said no, that family bonds were important.” There was another pause. “This week, though… Jo is a very troubled girl.”
Just chlorine. No Jim.
“Do you know of a good place? Somewhere she’d be happy? Somewhere she could get an education too?” There was a clunk. Elbow hitting table? “I mean… she can’t even go to school any more…”
“I do know of a place, actually…”
Jo stopped listening. She’d licked up an ant. It tasted like chlorine too. She licked her arm and then her knee before lying back down on her back and letting the concrete bite into her once again.
She tasted like chlorine too.