Mannequin—Heather Cadenhead

The writing of Heather Cadenhead has been featured in Wild + Free, Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith, Literary Mama, and other publications. She publishes a monthly newsletter about mothering her non-speaking son through the lens of the Christian gospel.

Mannequin

by Heather Cadenhead

My sister and I played beneath the circular racks,
listening to the swish, swish of clothes hangers gliding
across metal rods. My mother pulled out a pencil
skirt to examine the pattern. Then, I spotted her:
a mannequin, draped in 1980s fashions. My mouth gaped
at her soulless face. Be still, girls, my mother hissed.
I stretched a palm to feel her silk dress. She wobbled,
no longer a form but a sound: an ocean wave, collapsing
onto itself, again and again – the roar of fiberglass
shattering against tile. The fashionista lay, unrecognizable,
in jagged, uncountable pieces. I peered into her vacant eyes,
now mingled with broken shards. My mother gasped;
an employee shuffled over with a broom. 
My cheeks burned scarlet. I’ve killed her.

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