Look Sky, No Suburbs
Mom gets them out of Skokie when Laila is four. She talks about endless troops of kids and dead ends no matter which way you turn. Dad directs the operation of packing furniture, dishes, clothes, while Mom smokes with the neighbors and bitches if moving men come near her books. “These go in our car,” she says.
Laila sits on top of boxes with her brothers, screaming every time they take a turn. Dad yells, “Belt them in!” Mom says, “Enjoy the ride while you can, kids. Never know when you’ll be strapped in for good. God knows, I didn’t.”
Meg Tuite is author of a novel-in-stories, Domestic Apparition, a short story collection, Bound By Blue, won the Twin Antlers Collaborative Poetry award for her poetry collection, Bare Bulbs Swinging, and a story collection, Meet My Haze, as well as five chapbooks of short fiction, flash, and poetic prose. She teaches workshops and is fiction editor at Bending Genres. She is an associate editor of Narrative Magazine. Her work has been published in numerous literary magazines, over fifteen anthologies, nominated twelve times for the Pushcart Prize, five-time Glimmer Train finalist, shortlisted for Bristol Prize, and Gertrude Stein award finalist. Her blog: http://megtuite.com
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