I don’t know, I don’ know, I dunno.
She said.
When you get to the I-dunnos, you have to start over. But where else to begin. There is no magnolia in this yard, the house is rented, it is hot, there is no air-conditioner, I put stray cats in the windows but the landlord says no. And anyway.
They fight.
I keep them in separate rooms. One is black, fat, beautiful. Her eyes are green almonds. The other is ugly - a mismatch of colors, even unto her eyes.She is thin and will not eat chicken.
I watch the morning news. The national show lasts two hours. In the evening, we get ninety minutes of local news before the national.
I live in freedom city. Late-night news at eleven.
I yell at the kids. The neighborhood houses are close; in the summer, I wish there were some other language the kids knew.
The dishes are washed every other day, the clothes on the weekend and earliest day of the week. That is my life.
It is all I tell you.
She said.
(Adapted from unfinished notes, c. 1988)
