She sat on the edge of her bathtub, leaning over the toilet, when her sister opened the door: “Oh my god, Carole! Are you all right?” She heard two open house guests talk in the adjoining hallway, and her sister quickly closed the door. She sensed that her sister stared at the pills spilt on the carpet. “What happened?” her sister asked, and she said, “He’s getting married, stopping the alimony.”
Her sister punched the air: “A fundamental disrespect for women, that man. And that bitch stood in the kitchen for over half an hour and didn't say a thing! What the hell kinda name is Billie anyway? They always have such juvenile names. Billie my ass.”
Carole slid to her knees, began to pick the pills from the carpet fibers and return them to her plastic prescription bottle. “I, I have to clean this mess before anyone—-”
“Leave it, Carol. Leave it; I’ll get it. You gotta pull yourself together, sis.” Kay bent down and helped her stand upright, then grabbed several tissues from a box atop the toilet tank and handed them to her.
“Kay,” she said, “I just didn't expect it so soon. Damn him. And now he’s probably sneaking away without saying a word to Gideon.”
“Shit! Gideon—-that’s right, and Elizabeth’s parents aren't even here yet. That girl is the best thing to happen to him, and now Richard’s gonna fuck that up, too.” Carole’s sister glanced at her wristwatch and then handed her two more tissues. “Look,” Kay continued, “I’ll stall that bitch and his—-” She punched the air again: “—-until the Parekhs get here. Leave the mess, Carole. I’m serious: just leave it. I’ll take care of it, OK? Just pull yourself together, sis.”
Kay opened the bathroom door and rushed out of the room; Carole heard the guests again until the door closed. She glanced at herself in the wall mirror but quickly looked away and reached to flush the toilet. Dizzy, then, she leaned against the countertop and glanced down, saw her red pills amidst the carpet fibers.
--Erik Francis Gillespie
