Shards

This story is © copyrighted to Adrienne Wolter in 2003 and onwards. It was written on Friday, April 2nd, 2004. Do not take this story.

This is short and stupid. Supposed to be from the point of view of a young woman with her own apartment or house and family or something. I was inspired by Futon breaking a little tea saucer of mine given to me by my grandmother. Ugh.

Shards

“Damn cat.”
I cleaned up the remnants of what had been a fine China bowl that my mother’s grandmother had brought with her when she immigrated to America. I had had it packed safely away on a shelf in my closet, but my cat, in a moment of panic, had climbed all through the shelves looking for some way to get out of the closet she’d wandered into.
There were sharp shards of the bowl everywhere, and I found it impossible to piece together the now broken family heirloom. There would be hell to pay once my mother found out what I’d let my cat do. I briefly considered not telling her at all, but knew that one day, when she asks to see it, I don’t want to have to tell her that it was actually broken for quite a while.
I knew the moment I opened the door that it would break. I heard the thump of the box falling and leaning into it, and shifting the sliding door at all would cause it to fall inward and five feet down to the floor. It was a hard decision to make, but I had to let my cat out.
The door was not oiled well enough to slide easily open, and I heard the crash of doom even before I’d opened it a fifth of the way. I’d have to clean it up and attempt to put it back together.
I gave up eventually, and rounded my frustrations on my cat, hissing at it and glaring at the wall. I felt like a moody teenager who’d just been told no. No, you can’t fix the bowl. No, you did the wrong thing. No.
Putting all shards of the bowl into a small, padded box, I put them in the bottom drawer of my dresser, struggling to open and shut it, then sat back down in front of the closet.
Behind me, the rest of the closet’s contents fell in. I slumped back against the closed door, exasperated.