Unslept prison-guard sleeps in his office of wire-chair. She says in a voice gripping water<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to enter please.<\/em> The desk inside the foyer empty. She is pressing the desk-bell<\/p>\n with soft finger tip, the bell-sound lances the room. A blue-uniform stumbles out from<\/p>\n a fake-wood door. Slow slurred slinky. His voice coils strangely, Please sign in<\/em>, he<\/p>\n commands and shuts the door. Waves of loud laughter seep out from behind that<\/p>\n door. The woman relinquishes her Hancock. Minutes slide down the yellowing walls.<\/p>\n The Blue-uniform emerges, a line of spittle quivering on his lower lip, he says, I\u2019m<\/em><\/p>\n not really the desk-guy. His smile is a blank check. Where\u2019s the desk<\/em> guy she asks.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t find your father,<\/em> he says. I know he\u2019s here,<\/em> she says. If he\u2019s not on the list, <\/em><\/p>\n he says, he\u2019s not here<\/em>. Quiver-smile. He slides a distending tongue across the span<\/p>\n of his distending lip. She adjusts her mouth to speak, his plastic sneakers squeak, he<\/p>\n slinks out. Waves of laughter soak the woman in a black wave. Dripping. Outside<\/p>\n in the splitting sunlight. Daddy is standing in the corner of the prison-yard. Daddy! <\/em>she<\/p>\n calls out. Daddy is encroaching the chain-link fence, his eyes are littering his hands.<\/p>\n His orange jumpsuit reads COCA-COLA across the breast. I\u2019ve been working all morning, <\/em><\/p>\n he says briskly, his face hung in syrup and grease. She says, Dad I came here to tell<\/em><\/p>\n you something. He says, That\u2019s great<\/em>, glancing at the prison guard near the entrance,<\/p>\n Come back during visiting hours<\/em>. An alarm is bouncing into the prison-yard, it smacks<\/p>\n against the chain-link fence and drips off Daddy\u2019s face turning. His hands, choking the<\/p>\n fence, are cracked with COCA-COLA syrup. He says, I hope I\u2019ll see you sometime soon<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m sorry. He is turning. The smog stirs the trickling ends of her hair. She says, Dad<\/em><\/p>\n I understand. Her Father slithers inside a shapeless grey building, a long shapeless line<\/p>\n of prisoners. Empty yard, empty woman. At the desk again the forms shapeless. She<\/p>\n is unseeing the walls buzz, the orchestra of florescent lights peel yellow and swaying<\/p>\n above her head, the Blue-collar is poured, slumped, against his wood desk shivers in his<\/p>\n sleep, his snore fetters the air like perfume, a window opening, his dream unrolls like a<\/p>\n fish in the space she stands clam-like, unseeing the walls buzz, unseeing the lights chatter<\/p>\n overhead the shapeless form, unseeing the Blue-collar froth in his sleep. She is smearing<\/p>\n seawater across her clipboard, smearing her ink signature, her body flood. A trail of seawater<\/p>\n is marking her exit, a snail\u2019s intoxicating signature.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Vanessa Saunders<\/strong> is the editor-in-chief of Helium Journal<\/em>. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she is currently an MFA candidate at LSU. She has previously been published in Stockholm Literary Review, Lighthouse journal, Haight Ashbury Literary,<\/em> and others.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unslept prison-guard sleeps in his office of wire-chair. She says in a voice gripping water I\u2019d like to enter please. The desk inside the foyer empty. She is pressing the desk-bell with soft finger tip, the bell-sound lances the room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9926],"tags":[21987],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}