In this dress she looked like a sausage in its too-tight casing, oozing sweat at the seams. It was dark blue with roses, and the white turtleneck underneath itched.
“We’re going to be late!” This is the third yell up the stairs.
“I’m putting on my stockings,” Casey yelled back. She stood in front of the mirror, holding a pair of scissors. She twisted, exposing as much of her back as she could. The mouth of the scissors opened and cut downward near the seam. Stitches snap, and the fabric crackles with a fresh tear. Now she didn’t have to wear this thing.
Flinging it off and pleased to hear another rip, Casey ran to get the black slacks her mother bought last year. The scale she was pushed on every week told her mother that she was getting chubbier. But the pants still fit. They were a bit snug, and the pants made a zippering sound when her thighs rubbed together. She liked them.
“What’s going on up here?” the voice demanded, getting closer. Casey heard the squeaks from the wood of the stairs. She was out of time.
“M-My dress ripped,” Casey wailed convincingly. “I can’t wear it!”
“What did you do now? We have to get to church!”
Her mother opened the door so forcefully it smacked off of the wall. Casey stuck her chin out, but screwed up her eyes like she was about to cry. “I can’t wear it now, Mom,” she whined, pointing to the monstrosity in the corner of the room. “It’s ripped!”
“And that’s what you threw on?” her mother asked, suspicious. “Fine,” she said, defeated. The clock was ticking. Her mother hated to look poor more than she hated her daughter in pants.
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Haley Fedor is a doctoral student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Echo, Section 8 Magazine, Guide to Kulchur Magazine, Crab Fat Literary Magazine, and the anthology Dispatches From Lesbian America. She was also nominated for the 2015 Pushcart Prize. Currently, she is at work on her first novel.
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–Art by Menerva Tau
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