"Hog Tied"

There is a hog-tied girl in the back of the police cruiser, screaming the same five words in a loop. Three cops pick her up like they are carrying a pig on a spit. Her shaggy, black hair falling into her face, red and swollen from crying and fighting. Soft folds of her stomach become visible to this lion of a night as her shirt cannot defy gravity in her present position and the edges of her jeans ragged hang around her dirty feet with misshapen toenails painted purple and chipping. It takes seven of us to strap her into leather restraints, the same five words streaming from her throat like a torture. voice manic and strained eyes black with vacant rage rocking her body on the stretcher so violently it moves across the room rails bend to their capacity. I want to take my tape and fix her mouth shut. I want to tape her whole face to shield that look of empty hatred. I do not like being a nurse. Aleathia Drehmer 2007