Bottle Rocket Hearts

MONTREAL GENERAL HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM
DECEMBER 1996

A fluid that tastes like floor cleaner is dripping down the back of my throat. I'm jittery, and he's making the other people in the waiting room uncomfortable. We are waiting for Della, who's locked up somewhere inside the hospital. We are not family. We're waiting on faith that eventually we'll be allowed to see her. This is somewhat ironic because we've been avoiding her for a number of weeks; her pessimism and anxiety had been like a cheese-grater across our hopeful faces. We are bothering the nurse at the front desk, but we don't mean to. We hold hands, kids scared of what we don't know.

FromBottle Rocket Heartsby Zoe Whittall2007. Published by Cormorant Books.