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  • Issue #24 Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Art Fall 2022 >
      • Marsha Solomon Fall 2022
      • Edward Lee Fall 2022
      • Harryette Mullen Fall 2022
      • Jezzelle Kellam Fall 2022
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2022
      • Natalie Christensen Fall 2022
      • Mark Yale Harris Fall 2022
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      • Bette Ridgeway Fall 2022
      • Ursula Sokolowska Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Poetry Fall 2022 >
      • William Stobb Fall 2022
      • e Fall 2022
      • Stefanie Kirby Fall 2022
      • Lisa Ampleman Fall 2022
      • Will Cordeiro Fall 2022
      • Jesica Davis Fall 2022
      • Peter O'Donovan Fall 2022
      • Mackenzie Carignan Fall 2022
      • Jason Fraley Fall 2022
      • Barbara Saunier Fall 2022
      • Chad Weeden Fall 2022
      • Nick Rattner Fall 2022
      • Cynthia Schwartzberg Edlow Fall 2022
      • Summer J. Hart Fall 2022
      • Daniel Suá​rez Fall 2022
      • Sara Kearns Fall 2022
      • Millicent Borges Accardi Fall 2022
      • Liz Robbins Fall 2022
      • john compton Fall 2022
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2022
      • Whitney Koo Fall 2022
      • W. J. Lofton Fall 2022
      • Rachel Reynolds Fall 2022
      • Kimberly Ann Priest Fall 2022
      • Annie Przypyszny Fall 2022
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      • Joshua Bird Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Fiction Fall 2022 >
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      • Hannah Harlow Fall 2022
      • Natalia Nebel Fall 2022
      • Kate Maxwell Fall 2022
      • Helena Pantsis Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Nonfiction Fall 2022 >
      • Courtney Ludwick Fall 2022
      • Anna Oberg Fall 2022
      • Acadia Currah Fall 2022
  • Issue #25 Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Art Spring 2023 >
      • David Carter Spring 2023
      • Annabel Jung Spring 2023
      • Ryota Matsumoto Spring 2023
      • Leah Oates Spring 2023
      • Eve Ozer Spring 2023
      • Emily Rankin Spring 2023
      • Esther Yeon Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Poetry Spring 2023 >
      • Emma Bolden Spring 2023
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      • M. Cynthia Cheung Spring 2023
      • Flower Conroy Spring 2023
      • Jill Crammond Spring 2023
      • Sandra Crouch Spring 2023
      • Satya Dash Spring 2023
      • Rita Feinstein Spring 2023
      • Dan Fliegel Spring 2023
      • Lisa Higgs ​Spring 2023
      • Dennis Hinrichsen ​Spring 2023
      • Mara Jebsen ​Spring 2023
      • Abriana Jetté ​Spring 2023
      • Letitia Jiju ​Spring 2023
      • E.W.I. Johnson ​Spring 2023
      • Ashley Kunsa ​Spring 2023
      • Susanna Lang ​Spring 2023
      • James Fujinami Moore Spring 2023
      • Matthew Murrey Spring 2023
      • Pablo Otavalo Spring 2023
      • Heather Qin ​Spring 2023
      • Wesley Sexton ​Spring 2023
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      • Sydney Vogl ​Spring 2023
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      • Erin Wilson Spring 2023
      • Marina Hope Wilson ​Spring 2023
      • David Wojciechowski Spring 2023
      • Jules Wood Spring 2023
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    • Issue #25 Fiction Spring 2023 >
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      • CL Glanzing Spring 2023
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    • Issue #25 Nonfiction Spring 2023 >
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  • Issue #26 Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Art Fall 2023 >
      • Alexey Adonin Fall 2023
      • Jian Choi Fall 2023
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      • ​Anna Maeve Fall 2023
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    • Issue #26 Poetry Fall 2023 >
      • Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo ​ Fall 2023
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      • James Kimbrell Fall 2023
      • Casey Knott Fall 2023
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      • Savannah McClendon Fall 2023
      • John Muellner Fall 2023
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      • Joel Peckham Fall 2023
      • Natalia Prusinska Fall 2023
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      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2023
      • Hilary Sallick Fall 2023
      • Kelly R. Samuels Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Fiction Fall 2023 >
      • Abbie Barker Fall 2023
      • Eric Rasmussen Fall 2023
      • E.P. Tuazon Fall 2023

Roslyn Summerville

Dinner with Dan

           
It had already started to get dark when Jake returned home, the familiar trail of smoke making its way out of his house’s chimney. No doubt his wife would be fretting around the house mumbling her worried thoughts aloud. He smiled at the thought and finally killed the engine to his rusty, old pickup. It gave a last sputtering breath before settling down for the night.

The crunch of snow below Jake’s feet filled the crisp air, echoing through his ears. The forest surrounding him was alive with sounds. Twigs snapped, an owl’s wings shuttered against the wind, a deer walked against the same crunchy snow just as he had. Jake’s hearing was always heightened after hunting, the pure rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins as if he himself had escaped an encounter with a gun pointed right at the soft spot in the back of his head.

Puffs of breath escaped past his cracked lips in short bursts, the frigid air sharp against his lungs as he lowered the door to the bed of his truck. The spoils of a good hunt lay just to the right, a heap of wounded flesh and bones hidden under a white sack. Careful not to touch areas where the blood had started to seep through, he dragged the bag until it landed with a sickeningly pleasing thud in the snow, leaving behind blood stains on the pure white surface. Jake smiled at the red trail fanning out behind him.

Inside, the house was filled with the delicious smells of dinner; steamed vegetables like baby carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower, pasta boiling in water, and the tangy sauce simmering in a pan nearby. The only thing missing was the smell of meat, which Jake couldn’t wait to add to the array of aromas.

“There you are,” Emma let out, her thin eyebrows knit together and she pursed her lips, the ever familiar crease on her forehead was present, just like it always was when he came back from hunting. “I was getting worried.”

“You’re always worried,” he said, falling right into the routine of their recurring conversation.

A loose strand of her corkscrew curls fell to the side of her face as she asked, “Well, whose fault is that, mister?” Her forehead slowly smoothed out, her bottom lip plumped from the straight line it had been in, blood rushing to it so that the pale pink faded away, and the faint blush on her cheeks from standing over the pot of boiling water made her seem disheveled, but Jake could see peace in her jade eyes.

A laugh erupted from deep in his chest and he shook his head jokingly. “I got a big one for us tonight,” he said, the laugh still present in his voice.

She leaned over on her right leg, hair spilling out underneath her head as she did so, just to get a better view of the sack behind him. “Don’t just let it sit there! You’re getting blood all over my carpet! Go back and get it ready for me.” She pointed down the hall, a wooden spoon clasped in her hand.

Jake left, lifting the bag off the floor like his wife had wanted, and slung it onto his back. The insides of the bag sunk against him and made squishing sounds with each step he took. He could feel the head of his kill lull from side to side against his shoulders, could almost feel each individual feature from the eyes to the nose to the mouth of the dead mass.

It took him no more than 30 proficient minutes to get everything ready for his wife. He brought it to her in a plastic container, the deep red of the flesh pushed against the sides, begging for an escape. Some of the juices even tumbled over the sides, wanting that short breath of freedom before getting tossed onto the stove.

It was all routine from there. Jake set the table, Emma finished cooking dinner. The smell that filled the small kitchen was ravishing; Jake couldn’t wait to dig in.

They clasped hands, said a prayer, and finally started to eat. The first bite Jake took was so tender, he chewed slowly in order to make the meal last longer.

“So,” Emma started, “where did you get it tonight?”

Jake swallowed and said, “Near town.”

Her eyes bulged, her fork teetering on the inside of her mouth. “Jake!”

“Relax, it’s fine.”

She rushed on. “It’s going to be just like last time! And we just got settled in.” She took a sweeping look at the kitchen. Jake knew that she held especially endearing feelings for the window that was set over the sink. From it she could see the landscape for miles and when the sun came up every morning she was there watching it as it was framed with the precariously placed trees.

“I said relax!” he boomed over his frantic wife.

She cringed back, averting her eyes to somewhere over his shoulder. “It’s just…I don’t understand. Why do you take such risks? Someone else could’ve gotten hurt…like before,” she said, breaking her stare to look down at her plate and play with a piece of broccoli.

“Because,” he said, taking another bite of the meat he himself provided for the two. “I’m good and won’t make that mistake again.”

“Haven’t you ever heard the saying, ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry’?”

“Are you saying that you don’t think tonight’s dinner is delicious?” he asked.

She sighed. “No.”

“See? It was worth it.”

The two sat in silence, eating away at the food in front of them. With each bite Emma became more nervous, and just as she always does she asked, “What’s its name?”

Jake smiled crookedly. “Dan.”

“Dan Thomas?” She asked. When he nodded her shoulders slouched forward. “I was starting to like him.”

“I liked him,” Jake said, “a lot.” His smile still plastered on his face as he took another bite.

​



--
Roslyn Summerville is a sophomore at Lewis University. She is majoring in Mass Communications with a minor in Creative Writing. She comes from a little town called Wauconda (never heard of it? not really surprising). She is very dedicated to her Track and Field team and is working hard to make it to Nationals in order to become an All-American. Her work has been seen in Teen Ink.

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  • Home
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  • Issue #24 Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Art Fall 2022 >
      • Marsha Solomon Fall 2022
      • Edward Lee Fall 2022
      • Harryette Mullen Fall 2022
      • Jezzelle Kellam Fall 2022
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2022
      • Natalie Christensen Fall 2022
      • Mark Yale Harris Fall 2022
      • Amy Nelder Fall 2022
      • Bette Ridgeway Fall 2022
      • Ursula Sokolowska Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Poetry Fall 2022 >
      • William Stobb Fall 2022
      • e Fall 2022
      • Stefanie Kirby Fall 2022
      • Lisa Ampleman Fall 2022
      • Will Cordeiro Fall 2022
      • Jesica Davis Fall 2022
      • Peter O'Donovan Fall 2022
      • Mackenzie Carignan Fall 2022
      • Jason Fraley Fall 2022
      • Barbara Saunier Fall 2022
      • Chad Weeden Fall 2022
      • Nick Rattner Fall 2022
      • Cynthia Schwartzberg Edlow Fall 2022
      • Summer J. Hart Fall 2022
      • Daniel Suá​rez Fall 2022
      • Sara Kearns Fall 2022
      • Millicent Borges Accardi Fall 2022
      • Liz Robbins Fall 2022
      • john compton Fall 2022
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2022
      • Whitney Koo Fall 2022
      • W. J. Lofton Fall 2022
      • Rachel Reynolds Fall 2022
      • Kimberly Ann Priest Fall 2022
      • Annie Przypyszny Fall 2022
      • Konstantin Kulakov Fall 2022
      • Nellie Cox Fall 2022
      • Jennifer Martelli Fall 2022
      • SM Stubbs Fall 2022
      • Joshua Bird Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Fiction Fall 2022 >
      • Otis Fuqua Fall 2022
      • Hannah Harlow Fall 2022
      • Natalia Nebel Fall 2022
      • Kate Maxwell Fall 2022
      • Helena Pantsis Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Nonfiction Fall 2022 >
      • Courtney Ludwick Fall 2022
      • Anna Oberg Fall 2022
      • Acadia Currah Fall 2022
  • Issue #25 Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Art Spring 2023 >
      • David Carter Spring 2023
      • Annabel Jung Spring 2023
      • Ryota Matsumoto Spring 2023
      • Leah Oates Spring 2023
      • Eve Ozer Spring 2023
      • Emily Rankin Spring 2023
      • Esther Yeon Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Poetry Spring 2023 >
      • Emma Bolden Spring 2023
      • Ronda Piszk Broatch Spring 2023
      • M. Cynthia Cheung Spring 2023
      • Flower Conroy Spring 2023
      • Jill Crammond Spring 2023
      • Sandra Crouch Spring 2023
      • Satya Dash Spring 2023
      • Rita Feinstein Spring 2023
      • Dan Fliegel Spring 2023
      • Lisa Higgs ​Spring 2023
      • Dennis Hinrichsen ​Spring 2023
      • Mara Jebsen ​Spring 2023
      • Abriana Jetté ​Spring 2023
      • Letitia Jiju ​Spring 2023
      • E.W.I. Johnson ​Spring 2023
      • Ashley Kunsa ​Spring 2023
      • Susanna Lang ​Spring 2023
      • James Fujinami Moore Spring 2023
      • Matthew Murrey Spring 2023
      • Pablo Otavalo Spring 2023
      • Heather Qin ​Spring 2023
      • Wesley Sexton ​Spring 2023
      • Ashish Singh ​Spring 2023
      • Sara Sowers-Wills ​Spring 2023
      • Sydney Vogl ​Spring 2023
      • Elinor Ann Walker Spring 2023
      • Andrew Wells Spring 2023
      • Erin Wilson Spring 2023
      • Marina Hope Wilson ​Spring 2023
      • David Wojciechowski Spring 2023
      • Jules Wood Spring 2023
      • Ellen Zhang Spring 2023
      • BJ Zhou Spring 2023
      • Jane Zwart Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Fiction Spring 2023 >
      • Eleonora Balsano Spring 2023
      • Callie S. Blackstone Spring 2023
      • Daniel Deisinger Spring 2023
      • CL Glanzing Spring 2023
      • Janine Kovac Spring 2023
      • Jeremy T. Wilson Spring 2023
      • Richie Zaborowske Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Nonfiction Spring 2023 >
      • Kalie Johnson Spring 2023
      • Amanda Roth Spring 2023
  • Issue #26 Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Art Fall 2023 >
      • Alexey Adonin Fall 2023
      • Jian Choi Fall 2023
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2023
      • ​Anna Maeve Fall 2023
      • Jason Reblando Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Poetry Fall 2023 >
      • Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo ​ Fall 2023
      • Christopher Ankney Fall 2023
      • Magdalena Arias Vásquez Fall 2023
      • John Peter Beck Fall 2023
      • Mihir Bellamkonda Fall 2023
      • Benjamin Bellas Fall 2023
      • Michael Carson Fall 2023
      • Kevin Clark Fall 2023
      • Aaron Coleman Fall 2023
      • Mark DeCarteret Fall 2023
      • Denise Duhamel Fall 2023
      • Brandel France de Bravo Fall 2023
      • Tina Gross Fall 2023
      • Amorak Huey Fall 2023
      • James Kimbrell Fall 2023
      • Casey Knott Fall 2023
      • Stephen Lackaye Fall 2023
      • Cynthia Manick Fall 2023
      • Savannah McClendon Fall 2023
      • John Muellner Fall 2023
      • Mollie O’Leary Fall 2023
      • Joel Peckham Fall 2023
      • Natalia Prusinska Fall 2023
      • henry 7. reneau, jr. Fall 2023
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2023
      • Hilary Sallick Fall 2023
      • Kelly R. Samuels Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Fiction Fall 2023 >
      • Abbie Barker Fall 2023
      • Eric Rasmussen Fall 2023
      • E.P. Tuazon Fall 2023