#15 China Cat (The Pain)

braced herself for the pain. She soared out over the glittering water, plopped into it, and nobody even saw her. It would just be the empty cart that rolled back in. Would he even remember that she was in it. He didn’t, and he didn’t care either.

Might as well see stuff. They just walked around while they waited for her catch up to them. She was in big trouble Dan seethed to himself. She was like a dog off it’s leash.

China sunk to the bottom. She had never been in water over her head before, but she meditated. So when she felt herself panicking, she used breath control. China learned to swim that day, or at least tread water. She held her breath, and struggled toward the big yellow circle. The light had to be where life was. It was instinct. She pushed herself up. She popped up and gulped in the air. How had she gotten here. China looked over at the roller-coaster, because she heard the distant screaming. She remembered. The lake was probably meant to scare riders, but if it hadn’t been for the lake, she’d be dead right now, or mangled, so it was her savior.

The park couldn’t be too far off if the roller-coaster was right there, but there were properties, and fences. Her people were there. She used her arms to propel herself toward the shore, but it was rocky, reedy, and covered in bushes. She felt the slimy rocks beneath her feet. She had lost her shoes, and had no socks. Seeing the water snakes, she decided not to go that way, and began to enjoy the water, as it was cool, refreshing, and Zen like the garden. She was less scared now that she knew she wasn’t over her head, and she was alive. Actually, it was exhilarating. She saw a part of the shore that was clearer, and thrust herself toward it. It wasn’t that far. When she walked out of the water in bare feet, her hair, though tied, and yellow dress were painted on her body. The people on the beach were used to screams, but they looked up to watch her walk out the water with a wet dress on. She turned toward the screams, then started walking. She stepped over some of the bodies on the beach. They too, stared, after she had passed, and dripped on them.

Still dripping, she trudged up a steep hill. China caught sight of him when he rounded the corner, and appeared at the top of the hill. He was right; the lazy bitch went swimming. She couldn’t wait to tell him about falling off the roller-coaster. She ran; he stomped. He barged past, and kicked her in the back. He told her to hurry. She hurried up, but he kept catching up to her, and kicking her, or shoving her. He yelled at her to tell them that she was scared, so she went for swim instead of riding the roller-coaster. It was kind of true, and she didn’t care anyway. She just didn’t want to displease him anymore. When they got to the park, the screams were louder, she was dryer, and he was back to loving. He sidled up to her, and pulled her close. He bought her a new pair of white canvas tennis shoes and lacey socks at the souvenir shop. She liked it better this way.

When they dropped them off, he stopped speaking to her again. She wasn’t surprised. In fact, she was relieved she didn’t get a beating. He was cooled off. Next time, she would try not to ride the roller-coaster, or at least hang on tighter.

China learned to cook from one of the books in the box. It was a good thing there was an old cook book stuffed in there, and had no pictures, only words, so it was very specific. She was never going to make that mistake again like she did with the oatmeal, and if she didn’t understand a word, she looked it up in the dictionary. She read it carefully. He never complained about getting ingredients, and if they already had it in