(S)He
He turns on TV
She turns on microwave
He munches chips
She munches lips
He sinks into armchair
She starts scrubbing sink
He switches to News
She switches to table
He lets out a whistle
She lets out a sigh
He says, “less tax”
She thinks, “so what?”
He sips beer
She sips saliva
He calls her over
She calls him jerk
He laughs,
reminds her about the job he will get once the factories open
and she remembers, but her hands still hold onto a ballot of
Broken Dreams.
He’s red. She’s black.
About the author: Mai Hoang is a freshman at Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, where she serves as staff writer for the weekly paper. She originally hails from Saigon, Vietnam, and her works have been recognized by the Scholastic Writing Awards and Laura Thomas Communications. Mai founded and currently heads Little Bookies, an online publication for retellings of classic novels.
