Fiction Published in FICTION on the Web

 

One of my fiction stories, Twelve Steps From a Breakdown, has been published in FICTION on the Web. The editor of this publication summarizes the story plot as one where 'a high-flying executive pretends to be an alcoholic so she can attend AA meetings in the hope of saving her soul.'

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                                          Twelve Steps From a Breakdown

 

    

     Standing at the top of the basement stairwell, nerves made me shaky and ready to vomit. Afraid the typical Manhattan brownstone was a private residence, I peered through the gritty, ankle-high window. There were a dozen rows of plastic folding chairs and a table with a coffee pot on top of it. About ten feet away, at the curb separating the street from the sidewalk, a couple of scruffy bearded guys stood smoking. I glanced at them and when we made eye contact I wanted to turn and run home, to bolt my apartment door, grab a glass from the kitchen cabinet, and squeeze it until it shattered in a thousand tiny pieces.

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     “You okay?” one of them probed.

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     “There a meeting here tonight?” I asked.

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     “Yeah, you’re in the right place honey.” 

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     I bristled at the word honey. I wasn’t his honey. I wasn’t anyone’s honey.

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     “Just head down the stairs. First door on the right.”

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     I feigned a courteous nod.

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     The two smokers were dressed in unwashed jeans and ratty T-shirts. Tattooed arms and necks couldn’t hide their wrinkled, leathery skin. I was still dressed in my work clothes, a finely tailored gray suit and starched white shirt. My sleeves didn’t hide any ink markings. Even if I believed in a visual homage to my life, there wasn’t anyone or anything I wanted to honor. Though blessed with medium height, medium weight, and medium length blond hair, I figured the only thing these guys saw was an uptight, brooding woman. After taking a deep breath, I headed to the basement. The nook at the bottom of the stairwell was dark, damp, and musty. The heel of my pump got caught in the grate covering a drainage hole. I rolled my eyes.

 

 

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