"Pluck"

Flash fiction by Daniel A. Olivas

         I step into the bathtub, and Mamá stands in the doorway telling me to be careful, don’t slip, crack your head.

As I ease myself into the hot water, she says: Mija, what is that?

I freeze, my butt just touching the water’s surface.  What’s what? I ask.

She says: You got hair now?  Down there?  She covers her mouth when she says this, like she’s about to throw up.

I never told her that I got my first period last month.  My older sister Celia told me to keep it secret from Mamá.  I asked her why but she just shook her head, face all screwed up like she ate something bad.

Mamá walks to the sink, opens a drawer, and pulls out tweezers.  She holds them up, squints like she’s trying to see if they’re okay.  Then she looks at me.

Get out, she says.  Get out now.

[“Pluck” first appeared in Codex Journal.]

AWP UPDATE:

I am exhausted but still riding high on my experiences at AWP in Seattle. I plan on publishing here some photos and a few thoughts in a couple of weeks. And on March 15 and 16, I hope to see some of you at the Tucson Festival of Books. I will be on four panels and there will be many great writers participating including a strong contingent of Latin@ authors as described in this Arizona Daily Star article. More soon...