6.06 / June 2011

If We Miss the Beginning

If it doesn’t stop snowing will we miss the beginning? If we miss the beginning and if the beginning is what matters should we encourage the snow and say sorry it was the snow? If the groom gave better directions would we be there already and would the boy stop crying and would we not have to miss the beginning? If the snow stops and we’ve already missed the beginning can we pull off and ask what happened to the coffee shop that used to be here when we were kids? If the coffee shop reminds us of our own beginning could it count in a way later when we explain to the groom why we missed the beginning? If inside the coffee shop the snow starts again and we see the snow through the window and understand the beginning is the only thing would it change the end? If we stay in the coffee shop in our beginning could we say to the boy there will be no end? If the snow doesn’t stop and we never make it the wedding and never say to the groom congratulations on your beginning we wish it was ours would no one see with the ending so close how impossible the beginning is for us to see?


Jessica Hollander has her MFA from the University of Alabama. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Alice Blue, the Cincinnati Review, Gargoyle, >kill author, Sonora Review, and wigleaF, among others. You can visit her at jessicahollanderwriter.com.
6.06 / June 2011

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