The Neighborhood

It was dark when I woke up. Outside the bedroom window the stars danced and twirled throughout the cosmos. Jue slept beside me, oblivious to all this. Oblivious to her beauty. Pappy’s illness. The danger of it all. I could hear the night air move in and out of her button nose. Underneath waves of red hair her torso was rising and falling. A skeletal foot stuck out of the covers. Bones jutted everywhere, skin was tucked tight. She’s dying. I took a breath. Eight years ago, none of this would have happened. None of this could have happened. Eight years ago, they brought food in trucks to supermarkets. You could go pick the stuff up by the cart-full. No one was starving. The televisions worked. The hospitals worked. But not now. Not anymore. I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her. I don't want her crying, thinking that I won't come back. That I won't live through it. It's a desperate decision, but we need the food. I could hear the leaves crunch underneath my feet once I was outside...