Sorting Silverware
No one knows how much the silverware drawer matters. It rattles in Leah’s mind if it’s left unorganized. She checks it often. Otherwise, she wonders if the longer pronged forks drifted to the wrong side, sliding into the salad forks when she closed the drawer. Not to mention the spoons. What if the smaller spoons are lying, hidden beneath the larger ones?
Anyway, those spoons are for big-mouthed people, like Valerie. That gossip spreads rumors and spouts innuendos, billowing like dust clouds through the office. No. More like wildfire. That girl’s mouth flickers and flares, igniting coworkers, forming rifts. Girls like Valerie let butter knives slip over to lay beside steak knives, splayed out in the drawer.
Leah repositions a spoon. Her upside-down reflection stares back at her, eyes slanted with malice.
AMY MADSON is a writer and teacher from Minnesota. She is an MFA Creative Writing candidate with Concordia University, Saint Paul. Her work has appeared in The Nelligan Review, Pink Panther Magazine and Illya’s Honey.