In the sun the woman swallows her pride and her Zoloft, then wipes bottoms and packs snacks with her best of expressions.
She doesn’t forget the sunscreen.
The van stops at a red light and the woman sees a woman hopping onto the train to the city. The woman looks at the woman, confused, with envy and disgust. They smile and wave.
The woman talks. To her children, to their teachers, to the other womans.
She embraces them. They see her and it is enough.
At night the woman fits, clenching her mouth guard as she dreams of freedom.
Hayley Nivelle is an emerging writer and a practicing attorney. She has a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. from the Honor’s Program at Kansas State University. Hayley lives in Harrison, New York with her husband and two boys.
The Centifictionist 
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