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Ghost Parachute

A Literary Magazine

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In Defense of the Low Rise

November 1, 2021 By Connie Millard

In Defense of the Low Rise

The yawning cuffs of our wide-leg, low-rise jeans suck up water from the mound of uncleared snow smothering the sidewalk outside the dive bar.  We huddle together, each of us clad in skimpy crop tops or flimsy tanks, our half-naked limbs offering meager warmth against the frigid February night. We shudder and shrink, a meek pack cowed by the Alpha guarding the door, silent and stoic, assessing our worth for entrance, for acceptance.

Once inside, we are warmed by cheap beers and hungry stares, wolfish eyes keenly focused on our exposed midriffs, starved and gleaming in the dim lights.  We form our circle.  We dance. We keep the mangey boys at bay with our fat cuffs, a wall of denim, damp and heavy and stiff, cuffs that hide our cheap boots, the ones with the peeling rubber that we color black, passing around our permanent marker until the ink runs dry.

Hours of inebriation and inattention drive the boys to desperation.  When a loner breaches our sphere, the others become bold.  We can feel our protection wane, and so we flee. Our cuffs dry and light, we bound and laugh and howl into the moonlit night.

About Connie Millard

Connie Millard is a full-time working, mom of three who once made it to the final callbacks for the reality television show, Worst Cooks in America. After much practice and perseverance, she now spends her time writing stories in between stirring risotto. Her work has appeared in Tales from the Moonlit Path, Goats Milk Magazine, and Ran Off with the Star Bassoon, among others. You can find her at conniemillardwriter.com.

Artist Credit:

Genevieve Anna Tyrrell is an Assistant Editor at Ghost Parachute. She finished her MFA in creative writing at the University of Central Florida. Her writing has been published in Creative Nonfiction, Stirring: A Literary Collection, Blood and Thunder: Musings on the Art of Medicine, Hippocampus, Niche, and Carve Magazine. Her art has appeared in The Rumpus, Smokelong Quarterly, and Animal. She is a previous Pushcart Prize nominee and she teaches creative writing in the Orlando area.

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