Untitled
an excerpt

Gentle water lapping around her baby thighs, the three year old looks up at her grandmother and smiles. Her blonde hair is wet and she smelled vaguely of sunshine and dirt.

“What ever you do, girl, don’t you turn out like your mama.” Grandma exhales smoke toward the ceiling of the trailer bathroom, and looks back down at the baby; half with pity and half with fear.

Jolted awake – Dollie “Heidi” Simms was soaked in sweat. There was just something about dreaming about her grandmother, Queenie Lindhaur, that set her off. Her grandmother was always good to her and did right by her. She raised her to the best of her ability, and Heidi wondered if the day’s events made the dream happen.

She was 29, married, and as of today unemployed. Even a day time nap couldn’t snap the harsh reality of a good deal gone bad. Nice guys really do finish last she thought. Heidi glanced at the clock. It was ten til two. She was unemployed now for three hours and forty minutes. There was a certain reason why she got her degree in paralegal studies, but now she wondered why. She started with the sole reason to help those that needed it; that’s why she went into contract law to begin with.