Denise had read in one of her mother’s womens magazines that married couples were better suited for each other if they had the same sleep schedule. Denise worried that her parents weren’t perfectly compatible in that regard. That and the fact that they argued constantly. Sometimes Denise would cry herself to sleep at night listening to the raised voices and accusations suffocating the air around her. Her brother locked himself away in his bedroom escaping to his books and records.
Swedish pancakes were good but Denise loved the buckwheat ones best. Her mother was a good cook. The problem was everyone loved her mother’s hotcakes and they were ready for seconds before her mother had a chance to sit down herself and eat. Every time a new batch was ready, someone handed her their empty syrupy plate. Oil splattered the stove, spatula flying. It always ended with Denise’s mother yelling that she wanted to eat too and could she just get a goddamn break for once?
All she needed to do was have two frying pans going instead of one. She would have gotten hers in half the time it took to yell about it.
Arlyn West lives in Colorado and makes her living writing software. She writes fiction in her spare time when she's not out riding horses.