Green Issues, posted by Josh
Prompt: Start with this plot: A liberal activist daughter has to move back in with her parents.
The molars and canines in Jessica Jenkins' mouth ground together as she carried box after box down to the basement of her parents' house. At age 26 this was the last place she imagined she would end up, but after her boyfriend, Surgai, had left her for his yoga instructor she couldn't afford her rent, and after couch surfing at friends' apartments for weeks she had run out of options. Quite simply Jessica Jenkins was painted into a corner, and moving back home was her only option.
- - -
"We're just so happy to have you," Britney Jenkins said, dropping asparagus into the already boiling soup on the stove. "Your father and I have missed you these past few years." Jessica tried to tune her mother’s voice out, raising the issue of Bitch magazine she was reading closer to her face.
Undiscouraged by her lack of a reply, Jessica's mother went on. "So you'll never guess who I ran into at the market the today," her mother said. When Jessica didn't respond Britney continued on. "Sally Wentworth, Angela’s mom. You remember Angela from high school, don't you, sweetie?" Jessica kept her eyes focused on the page, reading an article about how so few parenting books are written by women of color.
"Yes, well," Jessica's mother continued, "evidently Angela is doing very well for herself now. She just got a promotion at her job. Something with advertising." In truth Jessica was half listening to her mother, but she wasn't about to let on to that. She remembered Angela from high school. Angela had always been difficult and boring, and Jessica couldn't imagine how she’d ever landed a job in advertising; Angela didn't seem like she'd had a creative bone in her body. The one prominent memory of Angela that Jessica had retained was the time in 7th grade when Angela had done her science fair project on which batteries lasted the longest, and had somehow inadvertently started a fire in the gymnasium after hooking some batteries up incorrectly.
"Actually, you should give her a call, honey," Jessica's mother went on, chopping carrots. "Sally was saying that her latest account - I think that's what they call them, accounts - is for some environmental group. You're interested in that, aren't you, sweetie?"
At this Jessica finally looked up from her magazine. "Interested in that? Mother, everyone should be interested in the environment. It's like saying you're interested in breathing or eating! God!"
Britney just chuckled at her daughter's tone. "Well there is that food channel for all the people that really love to eat, honey," he mother said, smiling at her. "I just love that Rachel Ray. She's so spunky."
"How can you compare liking the Food Network to caring about the environment?" Jessica said, slamming her magazine down. "Mother earth is having the life sucked out of her by people like you and dad!"
Britney put her chopped carrots into the soup and wiped her hands on her apron. "Now sweetie, that's not true. Your father and I love the environment. Why, just the other day I was at the store and saw that Clorox had come out with a line of environmental products. The labels looked very encouraging."
"God! The ice caps are melting because of you, you know that? You're going to kill us all, mother!" Jessica yelled, getting off her stool and storming out of the kitchen and downstairs into the basement.
"Dinner in thirty!" her mother yelled after her.
The molars and canines in Jessica Jenkins' mouth ground together as she carried box after box down to the basement of her parents' house. At age 26 this was the last place she imagined she would end up, but after her boyfriend, Surgai, had left her for his yoga instructor she couldn't afford her rent, and after couch surfing at friends' apartments for weeks she had run out of options. Quite simply Jessica Jenkins was painted into a corner, and moving back home was her only option.
- - -
"We're just so happy to have you," Britney Jenkins said, dropping asparagus into the already boiling soup on the stove. "Your father and I have missed you these past few years." Jessica tried to tune her mother’s voice out, raising the issue of Bitch magazine she was reading closer to her face.
Undiscouraged by her lack of a reply, Jessica's mother went on. "So you'll never guess who I ran into at the market the today," her mother said. When Jessica didn't respond Britney continued on. "Sally Wentworth, Angela’s mom. You remember Angela from high school, don't you, sweetie?" Jessica kept her eyes focused on the page, reading an article about how so few parenting books are written by women of color.
"Yes, well," Jessica's mother continued, "evidently Angela is doing very well for herself now. She just got a promotion at her job. Something with advertising." In truth Jessica was half listening to her mother, but she wasn't about to let on to that. She remembered Angela from high school. Angela had always been difficult and boring, and Jessica couldn't imagine how she’d ever landed a job in advertising; Angela didn't seem like she'd had a creative bone in her body. The one prominent memory of Angela that Jessica had retained was the time in 7th grade when Angela had done her science fair project on which batteries lasted the longest, and had somehow inadvertently started a fire in the gymnasium after hooking some batteries up incorrectly.
"Actually, you should give her a call, honey," Jessica's mother went on, chopping carrots. "Sally was saying that her latest account - I think that's what they call them, accounts - is for some environmental group. You're interested in that, aren't you, sweetie?"
At this Jessica finally looked up from her magazine. "Interested in that? Mother, everyone should be interested in the environment. It's like saying you're interested in breathing or eating! God!"
Britney just chuckled at her daughter's tone. "Well there is that food channel for all the people that really love to eat, honey," he mother said, smiling at her. "I just love that Rachel Ray. She's so spunky."
"How can you compare liking the Food Network to caring about the environment?" Jessica said, slamming her magazine down. "Mother earth is having the life sucked out of her by people like you and dad!"
Britney put her chopped carrots into the soup and wiped her hands on her apron. "Now sweetie, that's not true. Your father and I love the environment. Why, just the other day I was at the store and saw that Clorox had come out with a line of environmental products. The labels looked very encouraging."
"God! The ice caps are melting because of you, you know that? You're going to kill us all, mother!" Jessica yelled, getting off her stool and storming out of the kitchen and downstairs into the basement.
"Dinner in thirty!" her mother yelled after her.
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