BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
by Emily Brummett

Boston, Massachusetts:

she steps off a twelve-hour ride
next to a stranger-
whose shuffled music playlist
and snores
didn’t know personal space.

Footfalls and fast food stops
fill the train station
as she barrels through the masses
suitcases dragging behind
to hailed taxis and busy streets

where he waits-
a five-year, long distance relationship with
six months of separation:
her final months of medical school
and his overachieving investment schedule.

Her diploma and
vigorous job search landed her promise
where they saw a future, and where
a white picket balcony,
empty living room,
and bare hardwood waits for them.

Jackhammers, bulldozers, sunrises,
and dark roast fill the apartment:
the daily wake up-
no snooze setting.
Keurig’s Donut House gurgles and brews
as his weekly suit rental is buttoned.

During his nine to five,
she finds the nearest wi-fi connection:
listed jobs and internships
to secure next month’s bills,
because

a hand me down fridge, stained with old
motor oil and chipped stickers is occupied by
cheap beer, leftover pizza boxes and coffee
creamer-
not what she imagined for their future.

Monetary struggles among other disagreements
creates a strain-
no longer in the honeymoon phase,
a taste of reality.
a stressful and out of love reality.

And with not a word spoken
she slips off her interview black dress,
as he unbuttons his shirt, reaching into the
fridge- his nightly routine: throwing back a 6
pack until it puts him to sleep, as she sits in bed
and watches Real Housewives until he joins her.

She thought Boston would solidify a future,
but a half drank light roast with hazelnut
creamer and 1 pack of sugar sits
beside a vacant folding chair atop carpeted
covered hardwood, inside their white picket
balcony, and waits for him to come home.

About the Author:

Emily Brummett is a young and aspiring international business entrepreneur who enjoys traveling and writing in her free time. She was published in the Adelaide Literary Magazine No. 14. and is greatly obliged to her friends and family for their endless support.