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Now, her mother says as she settles the blindfold over Renee's eyes, it's time you knew about your family. You see, she hears her mother scratching her arm, we taste ghosts.
So, in a few days, we gonna take you to the graveyard, dig you a big ole hole and put you in. You'll have to eat your way out.
The mention of ghosts, graveyards and a hole absorbs into Renee's brain where they fit right in. Her mother gives her tiny morsels of the entire spice cabinet. She says she was dragged into the Earth's cradle when Renee was weeks old; cornered by her mother and aunts after several days of ignoring leaking breasts and the county deadline to name the baby on the public record. The name Renee surfaced when she tasted her great-great aunt. She strikes her knuckles on the table, once if Renee's right and twice if Renee's wrong. Renee swallows spoonfuls of every basement pantry vegetable. White potato, rap/rap tarragon, rap/rap. She gets three guesses and then they move on. That first day her tongue refuses to open up; nearly everything tastes of ash. Her mother says they must be patient because the mouth is a trap door. It opens fine but the question is, where does it lead? We start again tomorrow.
For the first time since she arrived, early morning hunger pangs wake her up. The sun glares through the curtains but there is still a chance she can forget this whole thing and send Daniel her coordinates - he'd show up apologetic and she would look apologetic and they could get back to their lives with the living and the breathing. Her stomach rumbles again as if it didn't care that she was against this exercise. At the kitchen table the blindfold is next to a plate of grits, scrambled eggs, and two sausage patties. Her mother comes in from her morning jog and Renee envies her momentum. It has always been like that; there is no way she would have stayed with Daniel; her body was ready to walk out of any situation whereas Renee was so transparent that other people could possess her easily. She removes tens of small white bowls covered in saran wrap...