Baltimore Review

"Trying To Know You"

by Jennifer Bryan

My mother is going to die. On Monday, she tells me she wants to be buried in her pink suit and pink high heels. I'm not to forget the high heels. She makes me promise to check her feet when she's inside the coffin. I agree because that's what oldest daughters do, and I sit next to her bed while she eats malted milk balls and drinks Tab. I ask her why she doesn't just drink Diet Coke. She cocks her head to the side like Caesar, her white poodle, and says it's because her mother drank Tab and her mother's mother drank Tab. It's just what they do. I don't think Tab has been around that long.

Baltimore Review, Fall 2014

Cover Art: Magan Ruthke