The Sheets

The Sheets is the story of a young woman's response to spousal abuse. Celeste sees sheets floating, suspended from her bedroom ceiling."Some were cotton, some flannelette: striped, floral, plain white or pastel. They waved as if there were breezes in the room, fluttered like tiny fingers blown up huge and stripped of their bone, the way you pull tail skins from the vertebrae of rodents."Celeste knows only that it is her job to keep them up. They fall in response to John's anger, never her own."In the short story, The Sheets, Celeste tries to be a "good wife." Her husband's violent nature, however, is pushing her to the breaking point. She seeks love and comfort from Mark, a friend. Ultimately, she is forced to make a choice. The Sheets is the second in a series of stories about Celeste. Others are: Something of Substance, An Honest Woman, Cowboys, and Intervention. These five stories are available also as a collection, AS CRAZY AS YOU, A Collection of Short Stories. For more stories by Inge Moore, check out REFLECTIONS AND ACCIDENTS, A Collection of Short Stories.