Listener

 

The women called her.

They called her from their cars, from their backyards, even a few while hiding inside their closets.

Quietly, urgently, desperately, they uttered the words they could not to anyone else.

“My husband hits me.”

“I’m pregnant again, and we cannot afford it.”

“I’m afraid.”
“I’m afraid.”

“I’m afraid.”

There in the shiny buckle of the Bible Belt, such things were not said aloud, were not allowed to be said.

They knew she’d never tell anyone.

She knew their men would burn her if they could get away with it.

And the women would turn away, silent.