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Don’t Ignore the Apostrophes<br />
Taylor Gantz<br />
You don’t trust anyone who cheats in Scrabble.<br />
Your sister’s new boyfriend, Brent, had been trying to convince you for the last two<br />
minutes that contractions are allowed. What an idiot. Everyone knows that contractions<br />
aren’t allowed. He refuses to let you challenge him either because he knows that<br />
“DONT” isn’t really in the dictionary. He’s just being a jackass.<br />
“Fine,” he huffs like you’re the one who’s in the wrong. “I’ll just make ‘TOAD’ and ‘PLANT.’”<br />
Was that really so hard? You write down his score, thirteen points, and he squints at the<br />
sheet as if expecting you to try to cheat him out of some.<br />
The game moves around the table, from Brent to Lindsey, Lindsey to your mom, your<br />
mom to you, then back to Brent. Brent doesn’t try to pull anything else for the rest of the<br />
game, but you’re watching him closely, like a hawk.<br />
You help your mom make dinner. She chops vegetables while you stir the soup pot.<br />
Brent sits with Lindsey at the kitchen table, studying the crystal vase of tulips. “That<br />
looks expensive,” he muses.<br />
28<br />
§<br />
He’s made several other comments like that today. At breakfast, he was interested in<br />
Mom’s fancy coffeemaker, and later he mentioned that your pearl earrings, a special<br />
sixteenth birthday present, were beautiful. “Must have cost a small fortune,” he said. You<br />
don’t know exactly why, but he rubs you the wrong way.<br />
“Are you excited to be graduating soon?” Mom asks Brent as she chops some carrots.<br />
Brent is at the University of Arizona and will graduate next semester with a business<br />
degree. Lindsey is one year younger than him, a junior.<br />
“Oh yeah, for sure,” he says. “But student loans will take forever to pay off.”<br />
Mom shakes her head. “Don’t get me started on the problems with our country.” Then<br />
her knife slips, catching the side of her ring finger. She cries out as blood gushes<br />
from the cut. You rush to help her, wrapping some paper towel around her finger as<br />
a makeshift bandage. She yanks her wedding ring off and tosses it onto the counter<br />
before blood gets on it. You and Lindsey take her to the bathroom to wash off and<br />
bandage the injury. It turns out to be a shallow cut. No harm done.<br />
§<br />
Brent returns to Tucson the next day. Lindsey plans to stay with us for a few more days before<br />
following him. You watch her kiss him goodbye at the airport, and they’re both smiling. You don’t<br />
care much for Brent, but you suppose you’re glad that he makes your sister happy.