Hannah Grieco
1. THE DISPATCHThe Dog Walker
clips a schnauzer to each leash: the hard puller on the right, the fighter on the left. They start their walk slowly, but the fighter, the smaller one, immediately lunges at his own reflection in the window at Duane Reade.
The dog walker thinks of her black lab, probably curled up, asleep on the soft green blanket folded on the end of their bed. She gave Brian that blanket for Christmas and she doubts he’d just throw it out. Even though he kept her dog, told her the dog was his, too, and plus she didn’t even have a job lined up.
The dog walker keeps walking, dragging the now-frothing schnauzer and his brother up 1st Avenue.
The dog walker has an audition for Tide this afternoon. The dog walker looks like a mom, according to her manager, who isn’t an agent, but still helps her get auditions. She needs to lose twenty more pounds, though, if she wants to get work. They liked her at the Tampax audition, but thought she looked plus-sized. They worried about sending the wrong message to viewers.
They told me you have a pretty face for a big girl.
The dog walker thinks about how Brian used to bring roses to all her community theater productions. She thinks about him saying, “You’re so talented, but New York will eat you alive.” She thinks about him saying, “Why do you even want this? Why not become a teacher and act on the side?” She thinks about him saying, “This is more important than me? Than us?”
She needs to hurry. Her audition is at 1:00.
“You’re going to end up waiting tables or walking dogs,” he said.
“Come on,” she pulls on the fighter’s leash. “Come on, I’m late.”
2. BUREAU INVENTORYEmpty coffee mug
Handful of pens
Highlighter
3 different yellow legal pads
A headlamp (why?)
Broken headphones
An unread copy of Matthew McConaughey’s memoir that my mother-in-law sent me months ago
6 different stacks of stories that I’m trying to organize for the speculative anthology I’m editing
3. BIOGRAPHYHannah Grieco is a writer, editor, and teacher in Washington, DC. She has written for a variety of freelance and literary publications, including The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Brevity, The Rumpus, Poet Lore, and more. She edits for Alan Squire Publishing, Alternating Current Press, and several literary journals. Find her online at www.hgrieco.com and on Twitter, far too often, @writesloud.