2001 School Magazine

54 : original works

MaryKathleen - "A Bottle of Whiskey Saved My Life" The dry breeze swept the dust off the porch in one direction, and back on in the other. Mary-Kathleen sat motionless staring off into the distance. The arid environment sent a chill through her spine. How depressing and uninteresting were her surroundings. This was drought in South Western California. Her eyes were like pools of inurky grey water, not a ripple of thought or imagination even deep within them. The house looked as if it had not been lived in for a thousand years. Pieces of galvanized iron hanging haphazardly off the rusty brown roof swayed back and forth in the breeze, hitting the side of the house, making a noise rather like a hand grenade did when it exploded. The general impression any reasonable person would take from the appearance of the house would be one of utter dilapidation. at the very least Mary-Kathleen wore a ridiculously long dark brown dress. it buttoned at the neck, leaving almost no skin exposed asit billowed out at the floor. The dress was tattered, covered in stains and notin the least appealing. She began rocking back and forth, back and forth. The chair made a high-pitched scream, each time the tired woman lurched forward From Inside the house, a shrill cry was heard. First one, then another The twins were awake and ready to be fed. MaryKathleen did not move an Inch. She sat firmly in her chair, looking as it moving was the last thing she planned to do un a long time, even if it was to soothe her two hungry infants. Suddenly she sprang Into adjon It may have been a great coincidence that at this exact moment her drunken husband staggered out onto the porch slurring obscenities as he went. but In the blink of an eye, Mary-Kathleen was rushing to her crying children it was almost as if her children were a mere excuse. An excuse to escape her husband Night came and her husband was still not sober, not by a long way. Mary- Kathleen had seen him drink a lot more whiskey throughout the afternoon and she was scared. He started yelling and breaking things. She did not try to stop him; she just left the room every time he came close to her. She was in the kitchen, hastily peeling potatoes when he came in. He was obviously still drunk so she quietly put the knife down, wiped her hands on her apron and started shuffling towards the kitchen door

Kofie HDlzbe@er 12 G!byon

"Where ya going Kathhhh?"slurred her Intoxicated husband

Uust out for a bit of a walk, my dear, "was her reply She did not like the idea of antagonizing her husband whilst he was so drunk He lunged towards her and she backed awayinto the corriec where the two countertops met

Soph!o Warden 10Gnmth

"Give us a kiss, 10vieeeel

" hardly think you know what you're saying, A1bert. Now get out of the way so I can go for my walk!" Mary-Kathleen said sternly Suddenly his hand was at her throat. She couldn't breathe. Mary-Kathleen reached her hands frantically around behind her, in a half-hearted attempt to find some form of defence against her enraged drunken husband. Suddenly, her fingertips brushed against the blade of the carving knife She picked it up with one hand, brought it to her waist level and began stabbing. He lay still on the grubby kitchen floor After Mary-Kathleen realised her husband was dead, she did a peculiar thing She began to weep. She could not understand nor could she control her emotions. She had been successful in doing what she had for so long dreamed of doing, yet never consciously considered. She ought to be ecstatic. A great amount of time passed until she was able to stop crying. She had never once before cleaned the house she and her husband had shared to gethe, but she felt that, now he was gone, cleaning was the only appropriate thing to do