Here is an excerpt of my new short story, "Full Immersion," which is featured in the first issue of The DeKalb Voices Review. You can read the entire story in the online publication, along with other short stories, essays, and poetry from writers local to DeKalb County, GA. Enjoy!
The summer Granny gave up drinking, her fresh conviction brought a wave of change to our free-range schedule. One Sunday morning before my cousin and I could escape to the mechanic’s junkyard or to the pond behind the apartment complex, Granny cordoned us in the kitchen with steaming bowls of grits and thrift store formal wear. As she straightened her hair with a piping hot iron, she rattled off all the places we would go after church, but there was no mention of the corner liquor store with the blinking sign.
Carissa and I stared out the window as we gulped down our mushy breakfast, fantasizing of the summertime adventures we enjoyed before Granny rediscovered her leather-bound Bible and the neon polyester suits buried in her musty closet.
“I ain’t been to church since I was in diapers,” I muttered to Carissa as we rinsed our bowls in the sink. Greasy pots were stacked in a precarious tower nearby, remnants of the dinners I cooked earlier in the week while Granny was stuck beside her mahogany liquor cabinet. This morning, however, the wooden shelves had been emptied and dusted in one of Granny’s newfound bursts of zeal.
“She’s like my mama when she runs out of medication.” Carissa said, flicking water from the scrubbing brush in our faces. “I wish Granny would go back to her normal self.”
I took the brush from her. “I’d rather be here than wrapped up in my mama’s antics. Besides, Granny’s still got a TV.”
Carissa frowned and narrowed her eyes as Granny tried on a wide brimmed hat in the mirror. “You’ll see, Fonso. She’ll take a drink and chill out again. At least Granny’s a calm drunk. She ain’t like your mama. She lets us do what we want.”
Continue reading the story here.
Comentarios