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Family Dinner

Heather Burke

Hunger sets in.
A voice calls from
the kitchen.

Dog-tired footsteps drag
across the soiled
oak beams.

The soft light flickers
across the discolored paneling,
a relic of better times.

Greeted by four sets
of eyes anxiously pleading.

Faces etched
with uncertainty.

Cracked, dirty fingernails,
dressed in magenta,
flip wearily through an
anthology of final notices.

The tar-stained fingertips
quickly brush over Evic -

Eyes dart back to the empty
table settings.

Feet nervously swish back and forth,
catching on a broken tile.

She stands, magenta nails comb
through bleached, frail hair.

Dress straightens,
her talents on display.

Stick figures and ABCs
fall to the floor as the
refrigerator door swings open.

Ketchup packets scatter across
the faded yellow dinette.


A bowl of noodles
joins them, spinning
and sputtering like a top.

Their eyes meet,
reassuringly.

The oak frame shakes,
bolted and secured.

Footsteps fade down
the cinderblock hall.

Silence hangs in the air.
By closing time the rent will
be paid.

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