Sharon Dilworth - The Long White (Iowa Short Fiction Award)
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Prize money for the award is provided by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council
Page iii
The Long White
Sharon Dilworth
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS IOWA CITY
Page iv
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright 1988 by Sharon Dilworth
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Second printing, 1989
Typesetting by G&S Typesetters, Austin, Texas Printing and binding by Malloy Lithographing, Ann Arbor, Michigan
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without permission in writing from the publisher.
The publication of this book is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., a federal agency.
Some of these stories have previously appeared, in a slightly altered from, in the North American Review, Indiana Review, and Michigan Quarterly Review.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dilworth, Sharon. The long white/Sharon Dilworth.-1st ed. p. cm.-(The Iowa short fiction award) Contents: Winter mines-Mad Dog Queen-Miles from Coconut Grove-The Seeney stretch-Lunch at Archibald's-The lady on the plane-Independence Day-Lip service rsum-The long white. ISBN 0-87745-216-4 I. Title. II. Series. PS3554.1436L6 1988 813'.54-dc19 88-17307 CIP
Page v
For Charlie Baxter and Maxine Rodburg
Page vii
Contents
Winter Mines
1
Mad Dog Queen
17
Miles from Coconut Grove
37
The Seeney Stretch
57
Lunch at Archibald's
73
The Lady on the Plane
89
Independence Day
107
Lip Service Rsum
119
The Long White
141
Page 1
Winter Mines
Page 3
Everyone's heard by now that Barbara Wyatt swallowed a half can of Drano. My husband says, in this town, news like that doesn't need any help getting around-people just want to talk about it. Nancy Whitney was in the supermarket on Third Street this morning and she told me she heard Barbara did it in front of a full-length mirror. They found her on the bathroom hamper where she had ripped off her sweater and torn her blouse trying to release the burning pain in her stomach. By the time they got her to the hospital, her lips, which had touched the can, had swollen black.
Nancy was sweating in her down jacket in the supermarket. She rubbed her pregnant belly in circular motions.
"I knew Barbara was depressed," she said. "But I didn't see anything like this coming. I don't think there was any warning at all."
"I didn't talk to her that much," I said. "Not since she moved back to town."
"It's the winter," Nancy said. "I know it's the winter. Fifty-seven inches of snow fell last month alone. And the winds have been coming off the lake at such high speeds that everyone's having trouble just standing up."
Nancy and I tried to hug good-bye, but her eight-month pregnancy wouldn't let us get very close. She went to stand in the ten-item-or-less line with the bag of birdseed and a gallon of milk and I pushed my grocery cart to the household supply aisle. I picked up a can of Drano. The red cap is fastened so tightly that a knife is needed to break the seal. On one side of the can a skull is sketched next to a poison warning: "Contains sodium hydroxide (caustic lye) corrosive. May cause blindness. Always keep out of reach of children. Store on high shelf or in locked cabinet. Harmful or fatal if swallowed."
I wondered how much of the can Barbara had swallowed and I wondered if she knew how much it was going to hurt. Had there been a moment when she wanted to stop what she had done?
Page 4
My husband doesn't want to hear about Barbara Wyatt. He can't think about anything depressing.
"Please," he asked me this morning. "Don't talk about her in front of me. I don't see why you keep talking about her."
"Barbara was a friend of mine," I said. "I want to talk about her."
"All right. But not with me. Not right now. I can't listen to other people's problems," he said. He brought a roll of paper towels to the kitchen table and folded two separate sheets in half and then again so the coffee mugs wouldn't mark the wood table. He spent yesterday after noon scrubbing the table with toothpaste trying to get the ring marks out of the wood. I can still smell the mint.
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