C43
Public Record
Excerpt from novel: Best Cellar

Mercy was the only hospital for ten miles

and I was worried Faye was going to
black out or die from the blood loss if we tried to go somewhere else.
Edith would be on her break then,
so I was hoping she’d either be in the sleeper or the shitter.
I sang Proud Mary to ease the tension,
but realized I only knew the first verse and the chorus so I mostly hummed it.
After the third “rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river”
Faye worked up the energy to yell as loud as she could,
which threw her into a coughing fit.
We were at Mercy inside of ten minutes, thank god.
I put on my hunter’s cap and rain poncho,
then grabbed a wheelchair and wheeled her into the lobby —
head on her shoulder, nude under a bathrobe,
a bleeding sock hanging from her mouth,
and a sticky-note stuck to her forehead
with her name and her husband’s phone number on it.
I rang the bell at the counter and booked it out of there before anyone I knew,
especially Edith, could see me.

Thresher Charles