janine

• her belly, under her loose garment, swells triumphantly
• She’s a flag on a hilltop, showing us what can still be done, we too can be saved
• Now that she’s the carrier of life, she is closer to death
• One of Aunt Lydia’s pets
• Janine looks at me, then around the corners of her mouth there is the trace of a smirk. She glances down to where my own belly lies flat
• She told the same story last week. She seemed almost proud of it
• She looked disgusting: weak, squirmy, blotchy, pink, like a newborn mouse. None of us wanted to look like that.
• Crouching like that, she’s like a doll, an old one that’s been pillaged and discarded
• Her eyes have come loose
• [she has] let go, totally now, she's in free fall, she's in withdrawal