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Carol McMahon: “Profit Margin”

May 23, 2018 by PBQ 1 Comment

A bloody-pulp socket in my mouth was
worth something. Fifty cents, at least.
So I sat at the kitchen table to twist
and tug and twist—use a tissue for better
purchase while the salt-iron taste proved
my progress. Nobody wanted to watch 
but I wasn’t sure what the big deal was. 
It wasn’t like having to look at Nancy’s blood- 
streaked sputum or the slack space beneath
Minnie’s blouse or even Uncle Frank’s
humped-up hand and gnarled fingers.
It was just good business and I aimed
to profit from my loss.

Filed Under: Issue 97

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David Ruekberg says

    May 29, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    Wow.
    I’m not familiar with this business model. But the images, oh yeah, I get those.

    Reply

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