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Ellen Birkett Morris
from Mapping the Sky
A part of me relished the distance from my old life and that made me feel so guilty. Here I was in paradise for this year, and Mom was back home in Cleveland dealing with her diagnosis.
I wrapped my arms around myself and scanned the beach. Older couples strolled by, and kids built sandcastles, too engrossed to notice the sunset. I wasn’t lonely being by myself, but thought about my mom and her loneliness, imagining all of the nights she’d sat alone after putting me to bed when I was a child. Now, she was left at home with her fears.
The ocean reflected the path of fire and Randy Newman’s lyrics traveled through my head: The Lord can make you tumble, and the Lord can make you turn, and the Lord can make you overflow, but the Lord can't make you burn.
My parents told me stories about the Cuyahoga River burning in 1969. I remembered my dad holding me in his arms as we looked out at the river and him singing Randy Newman’s “Burn On.” Being a Cleveland kid made me feel famous. He said, “The word you’re looking for is infamous, honey.”
Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of Beware the Tall Grass: A Novel, selected by Lan Samantha Chang for the Donald L. Jordan Award for Literary Excellence. She is also the author of Lost Girls: Short Stories, winner of the Pencraft Award, and of Abide and Surrender, poetry chapbooks. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Antioch Review, and South Carolina Review, among other publications. Morris is a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship for her fiction from the Kentucky Arts Council, and grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Elizabeth George Foundation.
Website: ellenbirkettmorris.com
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This is an excerpt of my unpublished novel "Mapping the Sky."
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