Fiction | March 01, 1988
What Do I Say to Them
Thomas McCall
This story is not currently available online.
We enter a cramped lobby, Lucy Banks, a nurse, ahead of me. The lobby’s floor is a jigsaw of small, black and white ceramic tiles, some broken, others missing altogether. In a row of mailboxes on one wall the name “Ramirez” is crudely scratched into the metal of the box labeled 3B.
“It’s cold in here,” I say. The snow that drops from our shoes isn’t melting.
“They don’t heat lobbies in this part of town, John,” Lucy says.
“They save it for upstairs. It’s 3B, let’s go.”
I’m glad Lucy’s with me. She’s in her forties, twice my age, and I trust her experience. She may be forthright in what she says, but I know she’ll never embarrass me in front of a mother.
If you are a student, faculty member, or staff member at an institution whose library subscribes to Project Muse, you can read this piece and the full archives of the Missouri Review for free. Check this list to see if your library is a Project Muse subscriber.
Want to read more?
Subscribe TodaySEE THE ISSUE
SUGGESTED CONTENT
Fiction
Aug 19 2021
The Body Was There
The Body Was There Shakarean Hutchinson Six months later she was pregnant. The curves of her hips opened up; her breast grew heavy. The blue cotton dress, the dye fading… read more
Fiction
Aug 19 2021
The Burial
The Burial Samantha Xiao Cody In the days after Mr. Huang was arrested for killing his son, we began seeing the dog everywhere. The Huang house was swarmed with reporters… read more
Fiction
Aug 19 2021
Heart-Scalded
Heart-Scalded Daphne Kalotay for Jude Twilight’s hazy glow, the world covered in gray lint. Viv hailed a ride and set out toward the crumbling edge of town. Though it… read more