Shoutout to @CrystalAHill on twitter for the word prompt! The 20 minutes is from the moment I jot down the first word till I write the last. I’ll sit and consider the theme and the visual imagery for some minutes beforehand, oftentimes googling images of the word. Laurell K. Hamilton herself and her body of work – which I hugely admire – inspired the topic of this drabble.
“Don’t call it salacious, mom.”
“I’ll call it what it is, my daughter or not.”
Erica rubbed her tired eyes. “You don’t know what it is.”
Her mother fiddled with her own wedding ring. “I obviously can’t tell you what to do, but—”
“Then stop, right there, and don’t do it.”
Her mother’s lips thinned with the effort of staying silent, but she ultimately failed. “Is Andy not enough for you? There’s couple’s therapy.”
“There’s no problem here, so what’re you trying to fix?”
“Your marriage!”
“It’s not broken.”
“You’re dating other men!”
“It’s called polyamory.”
“And women!”
“Po-ly-a-mo-ry.”
A.R.Frederiksen 