Page 42 - Demo

Brian C. Billings
Running in the International Space Station
Tethered to the frame, she floats above the treadmill while the sun slips by for the sixteenth spin.
Though declining muscles burn, her head will
stay erect as pooled sweat polishes her skin— reminding her she must begin again.
She wants to walk on Earth, and so she spends two hours at a time on this machine.
In zero-G, her safety mass depends
on crushing exercise to keep her lean
when all the black around conspires to wean
her from the pressures that she’s known since birth. She flings her sharp-edged elbows out and moans,
a sound crouched in between a burst of mirth
and primal fear. She squints her eyes and loans herself the faith to beat her brittling bones.
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Billings is a professor of drama and English at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. His work has appeared in such journals as Abandoned Mine, Ancient Paths, The Bluebird Word, Confrontation, Evening Street Review, Rushing Thru the Dark, and he is a former contributor to The Woven Tale Press. Publishers for his scripts include Eldridge Publishing and Heuer Publishing.