Anne Way

Weeknight tension built as the window lights clicked off, one by one, like the houses were shutting their eyes to sleep in the docile dark, peaceful and blank until roused by the rising sun. Anne sat inside, with nowhere to go tomorrow, but the school night panic was something she never outgrew. The small hours were vile with accusation, unemployed and kept, retired at 32. There was too much empty time in the day to fill and she spent much of it doing whatever she wanted, leisure had become devalued with nothing in contrast. When everyone was in their bed Anne was poisoned with boredom, there were no errands to run or friends to visit, she couldn't stand video games and she could only half watch a movie she wasn't interested in. The center of the teeter totter was around 2am, if she could fall asleep before that she would land on the right side, but later and she would have to pour a drink. She never had just one, and before long the sun was rising and she was wondering when blame would find her.

Her father had money and no scruples, in exchange for his indiscretion her mother only demanded indulgence, a privilege extended to her children. Anne earned a 6 year BA and worked part time at places with no dress code, taking annual vacations and frequent leaves. She ran in the morning, the sleepy gray halflight suiting the desolate paths. Later, in the full afternoon, the lack of people was eerie. From the mid morning she would buy groceries, bank, shop, or oversee workmen on small household projects. She felt like he was sneaking around but anyone might mistake her for a woman on a day off, or a regular housewife.

Anne was a born boxer with a long reach and strong, skinny legs. She bobbed her head in and out, the grace that never manifested in dance or gymnastics bloomed in the ring. She trained at a VFW gym with a program run by a retired ex pro who never got a shot. He saw her five days a week and invited her to assist his youth classes. The kids took her seriously, responding to her instruction and following her routines. They were disappointed on days she couldn't come, and she missed them too. She learned to work a corner, and drove her students to PAL youth boxing nights, bursting with pride when they did well and offering firm and unpatronizing support when they didn't. Anne got her CPR certification and started looking into personal training. Some nights she put together DVDs of fights for her kids, some nights she filled her flask and went looking for a place to hide out.