White Lipstick

aunt ada

16 aunt ada i was named after my aunt ada a trick-rider in the rodeo in utah when my father took us back to stay with her for a year she didn’t ride anymore allergic she said she cooked on a coal stove that heated the small iron she pressed our clothes with when we bathed she started with the largest child adding hot water with each new addition until a bunch of us smaller kids ended up in a pee-warm puddle she made the best milk gravy i’ve ever tasted from skimmed milk in winter uncle barkley took us ice-skating on the frozen pond attaching ice skates to our shoes that christmas the tree was without lights decorated with homemade trim it didn’t snow until january when it did snow we kids sat stapled to the bedroom window watching uncle chop the heads off chickens their headless forms jumping and cavorting like baseball players spewing red tobacco juice on a field of white 17 that night we sat bug-eyed as a large platter of fried chicken was passed around the table my sister and i excused ourselves and sat staring at the dark corner of the yard where the rabbit hutch stood ...