Free Divine Misfortune (2010) by A. Lee Martinez Page B

shot a movie, cut out all the good parts, and left only a parade of tragic, painful, and humiliating
     moments. She awoke, feeling as if she hadn’t slept a wink.
    Syph, head bowed, sat in the corner of the bedroom.
    “Oh, Jupiter,” groaned Bonnie. “What are you doing?”
    The goddess raised her head. Her hair fell across her face, but she gazed at Bonnie with one colorless eye.
    Bonnie covered her head with the blanket. She turned over and tried to go back to sleep. But she could feel the goddess still
     looking at her. Bonnie just wanted to get some sleep, to find refuge in unconsciousness. But even asleep, there was no escape
     from Syph.
    “I’m sorry,” said the goddess. “About the dreams. In time, you’ll get used to them.”
    “That’s what you think,” mumbled Bonnie from under the blanket. She had no intention of getting used to any of this, and she
     wasn’t about to surrender to the goddess’s influence. She hadn’t asked to follow Syph, and there had to be a way of getting
     out from under her.
    The alarm blared.
    She didn’t want to get up. She just wanted to lie here and wither away. But that was the goddess, not her. Bonnie was a happy
     person. She tried to stay positive no matter what. It wasn’t always easy. Not after her mom died. Or when she broke her leg
     and lost her dance school scholarship. Or that time her dog was hit by a car. And there was that car accident when she thought
     she might’ve had whiplash. And that other time when—
    Bonnie sat up and blocked the negative thoughts seeping into her mind.
    “Sorry.” Syph stood. “Would you like some breakfast? I can go make some eggs, if you’d like.”
    “That’d be nice,” replied Bonnie insincerely. She wasn’t hungry, but it’d get Syph out of her hair.
    After the tattered goddess left the room, Bonnie felt a little better. She was able to drag herself out of bed and get dressed.
     She couldn’t make herself take a shower, but she did run a comb through her hair and find the energy to brush her teeth. It
     was important to keep going through the motions, despite the weight bearing down on her. Bonnie couldn’t give in to the hopelessness.
    Syph had a plate of runny eggs, burned toast, and a bowl of cereal sitting on the table.
    “Don’t eat the cereal,” she said. “The milk has soured.”
    “I just bought that milk,” said Bonnie.
    Syph shrugged. “Sorry.”
    “Do me a favor, will you? If you’re not going to leave me alone could you at least stop all the apologizing?”
    It might’ve been a trick of the light, but Bonnie thought Syph almost smiled.
    “Your eggs are getting cold.”
    Though the scent of cooking was still fresh in the air, the eggs were ice-cold. Bonnie could tell just by looking because
     ice was forming on the plate. She didn’t eat them, didn’t even touch them. Accepting a gift from a goddess of heartbreak would
     only compound her problems.
    “Thanks,” said Bonnie, “but I’m running late. I’ll grab something on the way.”
    “No, you’re not,” replied Syph, “but thank you for bothering to make an excuse.”
    Bonnie took the bus to work. Syph didn’t follow her out of the apartment, but the goddess still managed to beat Bonnie to
     the bus. Syph even saved her a seat.
    A burly man with a permanent scowl occupied the seat behind her. His radio blasted out hard-core speed metal, where the guitarist
     played so fast the notes bled together and the vocalist roared. Thirty seconds after she boarded the bus the radio started
     playing twangy country songs about broken hearts and shattered lovers. He fiddled with the knobs to try to tune in another
     station and even changed the CD with no effect. Eventually he gave up and turned it off.
    Syph didn’t get off the bus with Bonnie, but when she reached the bookstore, the goddess was already there, perusing the magazine
     section. Bonnie decided she would do her best to ignore Syph. Maybe if she was offered no acknowledgment