by Deirdre Fagan
Girl, four feet tall, aged six, strawberry blond curly hair. Last seen wearing a ribbed high-collared shirt under her favorite romper, denim, with a rabbit patch stitched by her mother on the right breast, and black Mary Jane patent-leather shoes with rolled down white socks trimmed with lace. Socks may be a little muddy from splashing in pothole puddles on the way to the elementary school on School Street. Name is Deirdre but also answers to Dee. There are two brothers, also missing. Parents met when they were stationed at the same Army base in Georgia. They were last seen on the night they first slept together. They could be at local bars in their separate states. Mother smokes; father doesn’t. They may or may not answer when named.
Deirdre Fagan is a widow, wife, mother of two, and associate professor and coordinator of creative writing at Ferris State University. Fagan is the author of the memoir Find a Place for Me (November 1, 2022), a collection of short stories, The Grief Eater (2020), and a poetry chapbook, Have Love (2019). Her work has recently been published in Eunoia Review, Rat’s Ass Review, Red Eft Review, and Trouvaille Review. Fagan is also the poetry editor at Orange Blossom Review. Meet her at deirdrefagan.com
Emerge Literary Journal 