Dreaming of You

Excerpt

My mother wakes me before the sun rises. She pulls the drawers out of my dresser and dumps my clothes onto the floor. “Hurry up,” she says. “We need to go.” She leaves my clothes in a pile outside my room. My closet is open and dark inside. I get out of bed and replace the overturned drawers. The pile of clothes is surprisingly neat. A smaller one sits outside my brother’s room. He has already begun to fill his suitcase. He is fourteen; I am twelve.

Downstairs in the living room every lamp is on. The television and radio are so loud that I can understand neither. An anchorman wipes his forehead. I get a slow falling sensation in my stomach. Needles of rain skitter across the window. My mother calls from the kitchen, “Come on, your breakfast is ready.” My brother runs heavily down the stairs. The two bowls of Cheerios on the table have grown soggy. My mother hasn’t showered yet. Her hair is in a messy braid and she wears clumsy brown galoshes. She rummages through the cabinet with the phone between her ear and her shoulder. “Come on,” she says.

Matthew Purdy

Matthew Purdy is currently working toward his PhD in English at the University of Iowa. He has previously studied writing Binghamton University and Connecticut College. His work has previously appeared in the Iron Horse Literary Review, and he has a story forthcoming in the Mid-American Review. He is the recipient of an AWP Intro Journals Award. He has recently completed a collection of short stories, Something Outside Is Clacking. Recently, a story of Matthew Purdy’s was selected for Best New American Voices. He is originally from New Jersey.