Pushcart 2026 L: Sarah C. Harwell, “On Arrival” from Revel #2

At first trying to be the mother that her daughter wanted made her cranky, but this was just because she’d forgotten how to make someone else’s desires her own. Soon she remembered the liquid gold feeling of caring for another. This act of giving gave color and worth to that which was colorless – her own life she supposed. She made salad and fish and macaroni and cheese from the organic ingredients bought at the store her daughter liked but had a hard time affording. She listened to the stories of her daughter’s day without demanding equal time. Emily wasn’t exactly selfish, but she wanted to be taken care of, she wanted someone else to wash up her mess, she wanted a respite from being a grownup. When Rosalind was thirty, her daughter’s age, she had been married to Roger for five years and had three small children. Her skin had stretched to accommodate the children, had stretched to accommodate Roger’s body and so when she touched any part of her body it felt as if all four of them…