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Article: A handful of nails. (short story)
- Article from:
- The Literary Review
- Article date:
- June 22, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Fairleigh Dickinson University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Unbeknownst to the children, I added wood shavings to their turnip stew last night: pine to be exact, which I grated meticulously as if it were a hard cheese. At my most desperate, I've had to do such things because my children, like most children, don't understand deprivation, they understand only their own appetites--which is what makes children so appealing: they are all desire, wide-eyed and voracious.
"Mama, can I have this?" Lori asks, my eleven-year-old.
She holds in both hands for my inspection an oil-soaked sock which looks, I suppose, delectable. Her siblings are watching her hopefully. Recently they made a meal of wallpaper paste--a glutinous ...