Member-only story
Crushed
How We Rolled in the Before Time
The old woman is alone with the baby. Well, not “with the baby” exactly. For at least the next 90 minutes she will be solely responsible for the baby. But the old woman, more accurately, is with the television. And her Kindle Fire. Seated in her favorite chair. The baby is in the kitchen. Or the bedroom. Or somewhere. But as long as the baby could make an occasional appearance underfoot or at the corner of her eye, everything would be as fine as it always had been.
The soothing voices of the morning news drift to her ears, sublimating like a mantra, assigning praise and blame to heroes and villains with the hard truth of passion, leaving the old woman with all the peace she needs to concentrate. And so she manipulates the screen of her Fire like a safecracker caresses a combination lock. Three red candies vanish to drop the yellows in place. Another gentle touch makes four yellows, and a wrapped candy appears in their place. Back in her day, they called them “Jawbreakers.” But that didn’t matter now. Now, jawbreakers are the kind of candies that explode. One explosion later and one more bear is freed from the honey. Thirteen more to go.
The dog, a slender girl of a German Shepherd, is in the kitchen with the baby. The baby is walking now, or more accurately lurching about. He is naked, having removed his diaper for the sensation of freedom…
