FICTION | Carrie Knowles
Pinhole Vision Pin-hole, n. A small hole or perforation made by or as by a pin. Vi-sion, n. The act, power, or faculty of seeing; sight; the ability to imagine and prepare for the future, as in: He had a vision of things to come. “…once a hole opens in how you’ve been looking at the world, everything else pushes through.” —Ursula Heigi, Children and Fire
Laura’s father carefully unscrewed the blue glass finial from the top of their biggest living room lamp and slipped off the shade. The light from the bulb flooded the room. He put the lamp on the coffee table, pushed the kitchen stool in front of the table, and closed the thick damask drapes so no other light could come in. “Sit here,” he told her mother, pointing to the kitchen stool, “and look there, toward the wall, so I can see the outline of your face.” Laura’s mother sat on the stool, careful to sit straight so her head was about even with the bare light bulb. She pulled back her hair so he could see her forehead, nose, and chin in profile against the bright light. “Let your hair go,” he said, “so I can see how long it is now. You haven’t cut it have you?” “No,” she answered. Her mother let her hands drop and tilted her chin up so her hair would fall softly against her neck. Laura thought her mother looked like one of those beautiful Breck girls in the magazines. She wondered if her father knew about Breck Shampoo. She also wondered how much he saw when he looked at them against the bright light of the exposed bulb.
14 | Raleigh Review
