by Julia Nimchuk
The only television was in my parents’ bedroom. I loved getting close to its convex screen, approaching slowly with my fingertips, waiting for the exact moment the static would hit. There was something intriguing about that quiet tactile resistance, as if the screen and I were magnets, but it was trying to repel me.
It felt like how it did when my father would laugh at me with his grey-blue eyes, when those same eyes never laughed at my mother. It felt like how it did when my father would hold me upside down by my legs and spin me around, when those same hands pushed my mother to the ground. It felt like how it did when my father would blow raspberries on my belly, when that same mouth called my mother a bitch.
I heard him say that on the phone one day as he told her he was coming back that night. She didn’t say much and hung up. Then I heard him say it and I hung up too. But I still waited for him.
I fought sleep and watched the Oscars from his side of the bed to keep it warm for him. I was bored by the speeches but enchanted by the fanfare. My mother was under the covers and fast asleep. I crawled to the foot of the bed to reach out to the screen, but I didn’t get there. Instead I saw my father’s face as he entered the room, watched his hard gaze immediately soften as he became aware of me.
Julia Nimchuk is a junior at SPS from New York with a concentration in Creative Writing. She is a real estate agent with Compass and has been finding people homes and investments for over six years. In her spare time, she cooks, hikes, dabbles on piano, and sings in the shower. She was swindled into adopting a cat five years ago and is now a full-blown cat lady, sans knitting needles. This is her second time being published in Dovetail.
What fictional world would you most like to live in? Harry Potter’s, post-Voldemort era.
Tattoo or not to Tattoo? I’ve always wanted one, but I change my mind about what it would be every couple of months. Doesn’t bode well.
Who is your favorite writer? This feels like a silly answer, but Michael Pollan.