1 minute read
The Apothecary
from Campus Conversations
by The Profile
THE APOTHECARY Quinn Carver Johnson|Contributer
Mopsy brews a potion from the scents she’s collected on her fur—droppings of squirrels & small rabbits, a stray bird feather, mulch from my mother’s garden. & rotten tomatoes. I catch her, sometimes,
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in this act of gathering ingredients, rolling onto her back & pressing the final remnants of something magic deep into her coat. She notices lingering enchantments the rest of us miss. My mom finds cat shit in the flower bed &
Mopsy says, We’ve had visitors. A bee stings her for getting too close & she has still been gifted something pleasant. To her, what once was magic is always magic. Tonight, she goes to work with legs stained green from fresh-cut grass & a dead beetle hanging from her beard, & she brews a potion. It cures everything.
Quinn Carver Johnson is a senior at Hendrix College, pursuing degrees in Creative Writing and Performance Studies. Johnson was an editorial intern at Sundress Publications, a volunteer for the 2019 VIDA Count, and currently serves as the Editorin-Chief for the Aonian. Johnson’s work has appeared in Rappahannock Review, Right Hand Pointing, Flint Hills Review, and elsewhere.
Mopsy Doodle Daisy is an eleven-year-old dachshund-schnauzer mix. She enjoys eating bugs and taking long naps. If you’re looking for the TV remote, she’s probably sitting on it.
