ALMA’S TREASURE BY DESMA SHEERER 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 140 PREVIEW
Alma took a long drag of her imaginary cigarette. She held her breath for a four-count before letting it out between her pursed lips. In the frigid February air the steam from her breath rose like the smoke from the nearby mill stacks.
How long had it been since she’d had a real cigarette? she wondered. Close to 18 years. Ever since her first grandbaby’d been born. She’d watched the baby’s trash mother, her son’s now ex-wife, blow a cloud of smoke over the baby’s bald head, and had thought to herself, no ma’am. Alma hadn’t touched a cigarette since. The pack of cigarettes she’d bought that very morning had gone straight in the trash can. The ex-wife could’ve gone the same route for all she cared.
But sometimes on nights like this, when her nerves were frazzled, she’d find herself standing outside in any weather with one hand jammed in her coat pocket and the other trying to trick her brain into some level of calm with the old smoking habit.
“Alma! Alma, let’s go! Jesus, I’ve been calling you.”
Just like that her placebo calm disappeared into the night air with the breath she pushed out in a heavy sigh. Dan had had that effect on her since he was a little tyke. “I’m coming.”