I thanked the waitress as she placed the brownie before me. My mother-in-law stared at it with pursed lips. The woman’s skin stretched over her petite frame, she was dry like a prune. I glanced at the ice cream as it began to melt, it hugged the brownie. “That looks,” my mother-in-law paused. “Creamy.” Heat flushed my cheeks and a nervous knot tightened in my stomach. I found it hard to keep my salivating tongue at bay. I wanted to eat the brownie but with my skeletal mother-in-law judging me I didn’t know if I could. “Hows the baby?” My in-law pried. “Still big?” The brownie was soaking up the cream like a sponge. A spark of anger energized my fingers. “Healthy,” I snapped and sunk my fork spitefully into the heart of my desert.
– Ermisenda Alvarez
And I did glare
at her perceptible twitch
Throwing out a silent thought
wondering if she would catch
“Dear mother-in-law of mine
if you weren’t such a witch
The possibility of a friendship
wouldn’t be such a stretch!”
And I chose that moment
to crack her a smile
As ice cream dribbled down
on my shirt to defile
Which it did then seem
got her hackles to rile
So more into my mouth
of the concoction did I pile
And then she just exploded
unlike she had ever before
Her face red as crimson
she couldn’t take anymore
She knocked over her chair
slamming it to the floor
Storming without one word
straight out the door
All the people around
were staring at me
Which only did serve to
make me giggle with glee
For I was so tired
of being treated an enemy
I truly did not regret
that from her I was free!
Teresa Marie 12/17/11 ©
__picture it & writeby Ermilia |
What about God? 