Tag: ann_petry

She was accustomed to darkness.
The only thing she could do was to go away and never come back.
Ten minutes’ talk will straighten it out.
There wasn’t anything to work out.
Maybe we can work out something.
Right now she couldn’t even think straight, couldn’t even see straight.
It was inside her head and she couldn’t get it out.
She could still hear that floating, drifting tune.
There was the ebb and flow of talk and laughter.
She polished one pane of glass over and over.
She kept listening to the silence.
It was so deadly quiet.
There were so many things she hadn’t said to him.
It was like trying to look into the future.
Her thoughts kept twisting and turning.
That would be his story, and it was a good one.
She knew she would never be safe here again.
He was up to something that was bad.
The absence of sound was deeply disturbing.
This was real. The other was a bad dream.
It was a mysterious place and yet somehow friendly.
Forget it as though it had never occurred.
Acknowledging their pain, commiserating with each other.
They appeared to be holding a silent conversation.
Streets like the one she lived on were no accident.
I’m sorry to have taken your time.
It was going to take a long time to get out.
She was stuck here on this street.
The sounds were confusing.
And she thought time had a way of transforming things.
It had never existed anywhere but in her own mind.
Those things had become real to her and they were gone.
The music faded away, returned, was lost again.
What makes you think something happened?
She waited for his answer, leaning toward him.
They had been silent ever since they sat down.
He held it up and studied it, surprised.
He looked at it in surprise.
He was going to stand there until he got good and ready to go.
He wasn’t ready to go in yet.
He wanted to get some more air and look around a bit.
He strained his eyes in the dark of the room.
How was the crowd tonight?
Do you think it will take very long?
It doesn’t make that much difference to me.
No. He just wanted her. He was intrigued by her.
Was he in love with her? He examined his feeling about her with care.
Yeah, he thought. That’s what it is.
None of it means nothing.
The wind puffed the white nightgown out around her feet.