Wants
       

Two things she wanted among the left-behinds when her parents
moved from the family home of five decades: the 48-star flag
they'd hung from the porch on holidays; and the wooden knife
holder that lived on the kitchen wall, the painted decoration on
its front so chipped and faded, it would be hard for a stranger to
decipher the red apple with green stem. She took both home. Kept
the flag properly folded triangular in a box in her closet. Kept the
knife holder upright on a shelf in her bedroom where she could
see it when she opened her eyes. See that it was empty. That no
hand reached for the knife hanging second from the right.

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Copyright © 2018 Susan Eisenberg All rights reserved
from Stanley's Girl
ILR Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission