Absaroka Pizza
The current work in progress features Juniper, Cliff, and Dillon as well as Gitt and Chu. This is an excerpt from Imagine.
Absaroka is a tiny pizza chain. There are only a few restaurants like her in the whole country. And there is a good one, an easy walk from Juniper Johnson's old dorm, at the college she used to attend. Dillon and Juniper never lasted long enough to go there for one of their pies. And this is a good thing. This the place Juniper ended up after sour milk and cold cereal for weeks on end after Dillon, and where Dillon's then-girlfriend said the same thing had happened to her, it just took a few more dates.
"Can't you order from Google?" Mrs. Johnson asks.
Juniper's mom wants pizza, for breakfast, she wants to be thin like the new neighbor - she's always eating pizza, and she looks fantastic. Mrs. Johnson believes it's some new dieting craze. But she doesn't know how to use the Internet to research whether 'pizza' will help her lose weight or how to find where the neighbor gets her pizza. Mrs. Johnson thinks Google is Amazon. She asks Juniper to call.
"Don't you think it's what they put on the pizza?" Juniper says.
But her mom doesn't answer back.
No one answers at Absaroka pizza, even though an old phone book advertises it. They don't show up on Google maps, but you can't tell Juniper's mom that, print means they're here. Besides, the phone rings at the Absaroka, and Juniper's mom insists it's in town. Juniper worries no one will pick up the phone when she orders from other pizza restaurants. This is a repeating hex. (Juniper went to a party before she quit school and said a spell, Juniper's convinced whatever she did at that party against Dillon has followed her home and ruined her life). Certain days like the bad party at college repeat. And the repeating days are never good. They're days like when her friends come over and ask about the rumors, why she came home early from college, and hasn't gone back. And it's like when Cliff said he wasn't coming to her birthday party and broke up with her too.
She chickens out and orders a carry-out pie from a block away. The pie comes in a plain white box, and she writes Absaroka on it in big, letters. This satisfies Mom.
Juniper stares at the nothingness plane inside her bathroom and has dark thoughts.
How long do these hex things last? When will you go away? Will I ever be the same?
It is so loud inside Juniper's head she expects an answer. But all is quiet.
Absaroka is a tiny pizza chain. There are only a few restaurants like her in the whole country. And there is a good one, an easy walk from Juniper Johnson's old dorm, at the college she used to attend. Dillon and Juniper never lasted long enough to go there for one of their pies. And this is a good thing. This the place Juniper ended up after sour milk and cold cereal for weeks on end after Dillon, and where Dillon's then-girlfriend said the same thing had happened to her, it just took a few more dates.
"Can't you order from Google?" Mrs. Johnson asks.
Juniper's mom wants pizza, for breakfast, she wants to be thin like the new neighbor - she's always eating pizza, and she looks fantastic. Mrs. Johnson believes it's some new dieting craze. But she doesn't know how to use the Internet to research whether 'pizza' will help her lose weight or how to find where the neighbor gets her pizza. Mrs. Johnson thinks Google is Amazon. She asks Juniper to call.
"Don't you think it's what they put on the pizza?" Juniper says.
But her mom doesn't answer back.
No one answers at Absaroka pizza, even though an old phone book advertises it. They don't show up on Google maps, but you can't tell Juniper's mom that, print means they're here. Besides, the phone rings at the Absaroka, and Juniper's mom insists it's in town. Juniper worries no one will pick up the phone when she orders from other pizza restaurants. This is a repeating hex. (Juniper went to a party before she quit school and said a spell, Juniper's convinced whatever she did at that party against Dillon has followed her home and ruined her life). Certain days like the bad party at college repeat. And the repeating days are never good. They're days like when her friends come over and ask about the rumors, why she came home early from college, and hasn't gone back. And it's like when Cliff said he wasn't coming to her birthday party and broke up with her too.
She chickens out and orders a carry-out pie from a block away. The pie comes in a plain white box, and she writes Absaroka on it in big, letters. This satisfies Mom.
Juniper stares at the nothingness plane inside her bathroom and has dark thoughts.
How long do these hex things last? When will you go away? Will I ever be the same?
It is so loud inside Juniper's head she expects an answer. But all is quiet.
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