It Was 1975 – by Kyle Laws

It Was 1975                                                                           

I was supposed to look up the year of the abortion for Linda Lazzarini’s art installation—For Every She, There Is a He—and give his first name.  A month later, I apologized for being too busy to check medical records.  Then another month went by.  When my hesitancy approached three months, the question of legality surfaced.

I had been so nonchalant—saying how it was in Atlantic City, an old hotel, the Claridge, a year or so after Roe vs. Wade. How afterwards I wanted to go eat a steak, medium rare, at a restaurant I remember as being called Bonanza.  This was before Atlantic City had gambling. This was before he wanted to go West with another woman. This was before I was afraid to stay alone in the house where I made the decision—waiting for him to come home from his lover’s boardwalk Hawaiian Tropical Juice Stand.

This was after the condom broke carried in someone else’s wallet. This was after I retched in the toilet while his lover stood over the jigsaw puzzle I’d been trying to put together in the next room.