Babydoll

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I dug my babydoll up from the cracking dirt. "something from nothing," she whispered to me when I pulled her drawstring. There were other children in this neighborhood once.

My doll and I sit together on the porch swing in the dry heat. We watch as mom's Buick Le Sabre jerks up the street. We watch as she finishes her cigarette before walking up the driveway with a paper bag full of groceries. "Why are you always bringin' home such nasty shit?" 

My doll and I eat MoonPies in the driveway and watch the sun set over the shadow of the Sierra Nevada. "something from nothing," she tells me when the sky goes from purple to black and we realize mom has locked us out of the house again.

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Jack Hawthorn is a human wildfire currently residing in Kansas. They spend their time sweating into the soil of various farms and slinging books at the local bookstore. Their work has appeared in Snarl, The Raven Newsletter, and Pyre Magazine. They can be found @HoneybeeHag on Instagram.