The God of the Woods

by Liz Moore

she also believed that part of a mother’s duty was to be her daughter’s first, best critic; to fortify her during her childhood, so that in womanhood she could gracefully withstand any assault or insult launched in her direction. This was the method her own mother had used upon her. She hadn’t liked it at the time, but now she understood it.

but his love sometimes felt to her like an investment, something to be given on the condition that there would be a return for him later.

Rich people, thought Judy—she thought this then, and she thinks it now—generally become most enraged when they sense they’re about to be held accountable for their wrongs.

In the corner, Bear raised his arms to her as if he were a toddler who wanted to be held. It was unbearable—unbearable—to be kept from him.

im about to fight everybody. This poor woman.

It was funny, she thought, how many relationships one could have with the same man, over the course of a lifetime together.