Blown Up

She can barely open her eyes. They're slits now, like a snake. Her skin is hot, red and tight, stretched across her face like a hide being cured. The antihistamines are useless. Two packages of Benadryl and she's in a stupor with no relief. It's day three and something is making her swell up like a balloon about to burst. If she drank forties like water and mainlined salt like sugar, maybe this would make sense. People recoil from her on the street. Thankfully she loves oversized sunglasses and large brimmed hats because when the allergist's receptionist saw her even his jaw dropped. "Oh my, you are an emergency, aren't you?" The doctor figures it's environmental, something in the air or walls where she's living. Julie can't believe it. After everything she's suffered through now she has to move. Again. Benny leaves her high and dry with three weeks to find an apartment. There was a note on the fridge. He packed up the bike and was heading to the mountains to find some clarity, get in touch with his authentic self, do yoga, make music, recharge and disconnect. Don't wait up. When she realized he'd emptied their rent account and failed to renew the lease she had 48 hours to pack up and find a new home. The alcove is a stop gap measure to fill the void. It's small and sorta damp but the entire city is wet nine months a year and what did she expect with no security check? Her lawyer says six more months til her record is expunged then she can get her life back. No more Bennys, no more hand to mouth, under the table cash gigs, mouldy rooming houses and elephant man puffy faced allergic reactions. A dying van, a sick dog, a flaky, self absorbed, narcissistic ex lover on a vision quest and a histamine system on overdrive. January can't come soon enough. Julie is so ready to kick this year in the ass and watch the door slam on it's way out. Things will definitely be looking up from here on it as it couldn't possibly get any worse. She soaks his favorite t shirt in ice water, the one he forgot in the dryer, and drapes it over her face, closing her swollen eyelids. It's amazing how much relief an ice cold t shirt brings. It'll feel even better when she tears it up into rags and uses it to clean the toilet.

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