Catching her breath - fiction by Virginia MacIsaac
–fiction by Virginia MacIsaac, Judique
What other people threw out, Tessie took in. Had to, but it was Mama who was the tough one, the master planner who had always tried to get what they needed though it wasn’t always what they wanted. Tessie tried make things look nice but that fridge, that stove, and those taps were already pitiful before she got a-hold of them.
In the little bungalow built 20 years ago in a court of low-income houses, Tessie rocked gently in an old wooden chair. She imagined sitting in a brand-new kitchen with blue cushion flooring that sparkled like sun on water, buttercup-yellow curtains, creamy walls, and a multi-coloured thickly braided mat, on the stove, a tall shiny tea pot. She had described it to Mama many times.
