Read Commune of Women for Free Online

companionable. She’s backin outta that cabinet when Pearl axes her, “Is this here what yer lookin fer?” An she grabs a red box with a big white cross down from the wall.
    “Where’d that come from?” the giant asks, amazed.
    “Rat thar,” says Pearl, pointin. “Rat in front a our noses.” Pearl laughs an the giant gots the good grace ta laugh, too.
    She reaches out an Pearl thinks it’s fer the box, so she hands it ta her. She takes it, puts it t’other hand an holds out her hand again. Then Pearl sees she means ta shake hands.
    “Sophia,” says the giant, smilin.
    Well, Pearl cain’t remember if’n anybody ever done shook her hand. Maybe the preacher did, back when she done married Abel Johns. But that was a long time ago an she espects he done it in a spirit a irony.
    So Pearl’s a bit slow, but when she gets round ta it, she puts her whole strength inta it.
    “Pearl,” she says. “Name’s Pearl Johns. Pleased ta meetcha.”
Erika
    Everything’s hazy. There seems to be a big commotion, but Erika can’t make out what it is. She hears screaming from someone near her, then it goes quiet. She hears that noise again, like fireworks, off in the distance.
    She’s floating in a space that’s not unpleasant, but her mind keeps trying to kick start itself, to rev up some semblance of alarm over something. But she resists it.
    Then, there are people bending over her, pulling at her. They’re hurting her! She tries to tell them to fuck off, but all that comes out is a groan. She can’t find her tongue. It’s sort of stuck somewhere in her mouth, lying useless.
    God! Fucking cows!
    They’re pulling her clothes off!
    They’re flopping her around like a rag doll. Like one of those two black babies, a boy and a girl, her Gramma sewed for her, with the long, lank legs and arms. Jerry Huff tried to pull one away from her in third grade, calling it a nigger doll , and the legs were so long he seemed to be a yard away when the leg finally tore off.
    Erika cried, then. She might be crying now. She can’t tell.
    They’re talking and it’s too loud, and she still can’t make out a word – just the note of urgency. A weight like a pile driver descends on her shoulder and she distinctly hears the word pressure.
    Something silver flashes near her face.
    My God! They’re knifing her!
    Her clothes rip.
    She wants to run, but she can’t move.
    She’s twelve again and it’s her father with his big KBar in hand, hissing, “You kick me again, you little bitch, and I’ll cut your nose off!”
    She wants to fight, but instead she sinks down into herself, like always. She turns into the blackness like it was an old friend.
Heddi
    Heddi just wants to sit here quietly and calm herself. Then, when she opens her eyes, she’s sure – she believes with all her heart – that this will all have gone away. She’ll be lying in her bed. The light off the Pacific will be flat and white, making little rippling, shadowy lines of the ocean’s wave pattern pass over the ceiling.
    It’s this medication Dr. Copeland prescribed. It’s too strong. She knew it the first time she took it, but she kind of liked the fuzzy state it put her in.
    But this is too much. Dreams like this show a severe disruption in the psyche. Instead of helping her, these meds are pushing her to nervous collapse.
    Heddi focuses on her breathing, the way she teaches her patients to do it when they’re upset – ten long counts in, hold for five, five long counts out, over and over.
    But she keeps being disrupted by voices; voices coming from nearby – all around her.
    Two women are laughing. One sounds like a file drawn over raw metal. Closer, to her left, she’s sure she hears Ondine. How did Ondine get here? She never found her in Reception. Did she? She’s confused.
    Then she hears the unmistakable voice of Betty. She’s asking, “Has anyone seen a broom?” and a voice Heddi now recognizes as the giant’s answers, “There’s one in the