2009
FLASH FICTION CONTEST
Honorable Mention
the weight of things
by Kate Maruyama

I was 102 pounds when I went to my Junior Prom. I was 103 when I lost my virginity. I was 130 when I graduated college. I was 128 when I got married and 135 on my honeymoon. It was in Tuscany. I was 156 when I was five months pregnant. I was 156 after I lost the baby. I thought the hole left in me would have weighed more. I was 140 when I got pregnant again. I was 190 before I gave birth to my first child. I was 165 for the longest time. But I was all the way down to 150 when he left me. I was 140, a lovely, slim, but supple 140 when my daughter went off to college. I was 130 when they diagnosed me.
I am 102 pounds again, and still, he won’t call.
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Kate Maruyama is a part-time teacher and co-founder of Annotationnation.com. Her work has appeared on Salon.com and Halfway Down the Stairs. She is completing her Master’s in Fiction at Antioch University Los Angeles and is revising her second novel.