Our eyes

Asking for it

by Mary Stebbins Taitt · 142 words

I could tell by her eyes.

They looked like mine, in the mirror.

She had an abusive partner, like I did.

She was my new new bus driver. I sat behind her and we talked. Every day we talked. We rarely talked about our partners. We talked about our kids, our gardens.

Sometimes, she had a bruise or black eye.

Sometimes, I did. Or, we both did.

One day, I said my husband said I was asking for it, that I liked it. She said her husband said that too. I said it wasn't true. I did everything I could to avoid it. She said, "me too."

A tear glistened in the corner of her eye.

One day, she was gone. I read in the paper she'd been killed by her husband.

I decided to leave mine before that happened to me.