Diaphragm
Mom left the shower curtain open.
After peeing and wiping, I saw
the strangest thing sitting in there,
a dome-shaped bar of soap, perfectly
round, curled-up edges at its perimeter.
I stepped in, soaking my socks.
Two short, scrawny black hairs atop
the soap suggested someone used it
recently, that day even, that morning,
belied by the perfectly smooth apex,
its matte finish awaiting another bather
mildly, minding its own business.
I touched it—it sprang!—bouncing away
from curious fingers with such alacrity.
Locating it on the floor, I squatted
beside it, tenderly picked it up.
Hollow inside, it was not soap.
Unfamiliar shower cap, a doorstopper,
a tiny container, the rubber grip used
to open tight jars full of sticky jam.
I ran my finger across it’s surface
feather light, admiring, wondering.
Ring
When it happens, you’re at Aunt Ellie’s house for Thanksgiving wearing a new cowl neck blue sweatshirt that shimmers, you’re actually out walking with cousins and in love with the world, emotionally connected to everything in the suburban winter landscape, like Thoreau in his lake house. But your pants feel warm and wet and you go back, straight to the bathroom. You don’t know what the solution is when Mom and Dad are still eating pecan pie at the table. You do what everyone does in books and shows, you stuff toilet paper in your underpants, wait for the opportune moment to let Mom know. She cries and gives you pads and tampons. You shove the tampons far, far in the back corner of the cabinet, no intention of ever—ever using them because Ew. The next morning, the biggest shopping day of the year, when you usually go to see Santa with your siblings, Mom buys you a white gold ring with tiny diamonds in it, your coming of age ring, she says, more moved than you are, having left all your feelings on the sidewalk yesterday just outside your aunt’s door.
Alina Borger is the author of Tuesday's Children, and a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her other work has appeared in Midwestern Gothic, Black Fox Literary, The Mom Egg Review, and Rabbit, among others.