Distortions

By Alison Turner

A novella in stories: In this subtle and nuanced probing of family dynamics, a brother and sister find themselves “in the middle of the kind of stillness that comes from size.” She wants to disappear; he likes mysteries.

From the title story: “The sunrise over Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni upset proportion. The salted ground was so dry it cracked like hammered plaster, but the rain from the day before left round films reflecting purple, pink, and orange. Dane couldn't tell where the salt flat ended and the sky began, and when he glanced at his sister Jenny she looked like someone thicker. She wore a lot of layers.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wordrunner eChapbooks
• Release date: Nov 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311458049

Alison Turner

Alison Turner was born in the mountains of Colorado, where she learned to spend large amounts of time outside. She has an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta, and an MFA in fiction from Bennington College. Each book she reads makes her certainty smaller, and each time she travels the world feels larger. She has other stories published in Little Patuxent Review, Mixed Fruit, and Extracts.

Book preview

Distortions

A novella

By Alison Turner

Published by Wordrunner eChapbooks

(an imprint of Wordrunner Press)

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Contents

1. Filtered

2. Overexposed

3. Aberration

4. Refraction

5. Interpretation

About Alison Turner

About Wordrunner eChapbooks

1. Filtered

The sunrise over Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni upset proportion. The salted ground was so dry it cracked like hammered plaster, but the rain from the day before left round films reflecting purple, pink, and orange. Dane couldn’t tell where the salt flat ended and the sky began, and when he glanced at his sister Jenny she looked like someone thicker. She wore a lot of layers.

They leaned against the back of a 4X4 with Juan, their tour guide for the Half Day Excursion Package.

Pues, my friends, Juan said. Many many years ago, the mountains here were like people. He wore a navy blue one-piece snow suit and adjusted a gray chauffeur’s hat before pulling out a bag of compressed green leaves. He molded a pinch of coca with his fingers, and his breath already smelled like hay from leaves steeping in his mouth. One of the mountains was una mujer, and she had three children and one husband. He offered the bag to Dane and Jenny. Dane pulled out a pinch and arranged the leaves near his gums, the way Juan had done. He worked them with his tongue and a twig got stuck on his lips. This was his first time out of the U.S. He would try anything.

But one day, Juan continued, her little baby died, and her husband took the other niños away, forever. And when she was alone, she cried, cried, and when she cried— Juan rounded his hands over invisible lumps on his chest and looked at Jenny, she cried milk, too, and now the land is all white. It was the most Juan had said all morning, and when he finished he climbed back into the driver’s seat.

Jenny rolled her eyes the way their mom hated. Or maybe a giant lake dried up, she said. She had seemed irritated since they got off the plane three days ago.

You should try coca, Dane said. It’s like a cup of coffee. He had heard that somewhere. The flavor of grass nauseated him, but he felt an opening in his thoughts.

"It’s the same plant