Mind-Wandering

By Ami (Gypsie) Offenbacher-Ferris

Heat rose off of the grimy dryer door, laid open to dissipate the sweltering, man-made heat of the clothes-oven currently being used to dry his clothes; soaked from the thunderstorm he’d walked home in.

The scent of over-heated socks and stale body odor assaulted her, the delicate scent glands of her inexperienced nostrils burning at the intrusion. This was not the life for her. This was not the life she had dreamed of, not ever, not once. Did anyone ever dream about how real-life would be?

She was going to be an oceanographer and sail the open seas with the likes of Jacques Cousteau and his sons. Perhaps one of his sons might fall in love with her and she’d be welcomed into a family of achievers. A family that made a difference in the world. A family that cared.

A knock upside her right temple stopped her mind-wandering abruptly. The man called her a simpleton, told her he’d paid her father way too much for her. Slapped her again just because he could before lumbering out of the tiny kitchen where she sat huddled against the wall, the scent of sea spray lingering in the air.