I Came Home From Teaching All Day to Find a Lock on My Own Pantry

looking like a woman who had drunk one glass of wine too many. She went for the coffee maker and then she saw it.

The padlock, broken, sitting on the counter.

I had gotten up early and worked it open with Arthur’s old pliers. It had given way in under a minute. A five-dollar lock. Pure theater, exactly like everything else she had built in this house.continue reading …