the young girl looked around
her room with satisfaction and ease
scrutinizing the bed she'd made
with military precision,
sitting on the floor not to disturb
the coverlet so carefully
smoothed out wrinkle free,
it's edges sharp, clean and in line
with the four walls,
something she had duplicated
from page thirty four of her
mother's J.C. Penney catalog

there was comfort in it's symmetry,
the way her stuffed animals stood at
attention in a row from left to right,
the larger animals progressing
towards smaller ones,  
flawless and untouched

at school she was failing fifth grade
but thank the God of Episcopalians
her parents didn't know,
she'd hidden her report cards
even though they weren't ever asked for

she worried about being held back,
but the system rarely did that,
unless you were one of the
more fortunate kids that could
afford private school,
and she reckoned Mrs. Bell
would take pity on her

now, sitting cross legged
she feared what punishment
would befall her while piecing
together the torn fragments she'd
seen her mother throw into
the waste basket,  

methodically puzzling the jagged
edges of paper,
matching up words,
gingerly taping the thing back together

it had taken some time,
for mother had shredded it thoroughly
not recognizing the bad mans handwriting,
wondering why she hadn't figured out that
matches were safer than
getting caught

relived, she placed his love
letter between mattress and box-spring,
went back to organizing her closet,
picking off small pieces of lint
left behind by the washing machine

Written by Sara Fielder © Apr 2012