Her Mother’s Spoons
Jealous of objects, that’s what grief makes you.
When we first began to converse, the spoons and I, they told me how sorry they were for my loss, and that they too missed my mother. Not every spoon spoke; perhaps some were embarrassed? Like so many things, not to mention people, they prided themselves on being utilitarian.
Cate's fiction, plays, and book reviews have been published by The Masters Review, Fairy Tale Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Sycamore Review, Bookslut, Slate, Stage Partners, and more. She lives in State College, Pennsylvania.
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“It’s not that we don’t remember what it was like before the sound. If you asked us, we could tell you.”
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You’re safe now, said the plates, the walls, the glasses, even the golden chandelier that I hadn’t noticed before.
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Our relationship might crack as we build two babies, but turtles don’t rush.