At home her daughter pushed under her, looking into the fridge while Xen unpacked the grocery bags. “Did you get any strawberries?” “Nope, I got blackberries.” “I don’t like blackberries!” said Xen’s son from the other room. “Me either,” agreed the girl. Xen pulled out the plastic containers, and started stacking them in the fridge, reaching around her daughter. “More for me.” Jareth rustled around in the bags behind Xen.… Read More »Blackberries – Page 4
Grocery shopping was not Xen’s favorite chore, and she wasn’t the best shopper. She always tried to move with efficiency, checking off items from each section before moving to the next, but inevitably she’d miss something, or remember something not on her list, and ended up floating around the store like a dandelion seed caught in an updraft. Finding another sale, she stood in front of pasta sauce for 15… Read More »Blackberries – Page 3
She remembered visiting a friend who’s mother grew all kinds of berries in the backyard… small jewel-like strawberries, cloudy skinned blueberries and giant mild tasting marionberries. Her friend’s mother sent the girls out with baskets and they walked right past the painstakingly cultivated plants, sprinting down the block to an abandoned field where labyrinthine walls of blackberries 20 feet high loomed over them, wild and rich and tempting. They came… Read More »Blackberries – Page 2
Xen’s phone buzzed just as she walked through the sliding doors of the grocery store. She paused by the carts, one hand on the red plastic handle, and thumbed her phone to unlock it. [Please remember to get my deodorant!] read Jareth’s text. Xen snickered guiltily. For the last two weeks Jareth had been stuck using her deodorant, going to work smelling of lavender and tea tree; she somehow kept… Read More »Blackberries – Page 1