Tag Archives: gratitude

RACHEL HAPANOWICZ: Some Good Advice

Last December our oldest daughter stormed in from her shift at the family market.

The tips were horrible, she stomped, unraveling her scarf.

Here’s a tip for you, her father said from the living room, withered and tied down by the oxygen tube in his nose. Don’t eat yellow snow.

Raised in Ohio, Rachel Hapanowicz has fared her fair share of December snowstorms. She currently teaches in Cincinnati.

He needed a home. I let him move in. Bought a new bed. Fed him well. Tended to his every need. Let him sit by a real coal fire.

But every time I turned my back, he sneaked off to the woman down the road.

He was just another tom.

Mary Gunn writes short stories and poetry, including Japanese-style poems. She lives on the east coast of Ireland.