CHURCH COUNTRY GIRLS
05. Jessey-Lou
Jessey-Lou adjusted her surgical mask. There was no way she would come down with T-9. Not her. She preferred a sleek look. It was her look.
First of all, they made her take two evening classes to qualify her for the States Rise initiative, and she was starving herself down to 200 calories per day. You could see her ribcage if she reached to heaven.
There had been listings and firings and layoffs in her department, and a hold on all future publishings. She knew money was drying up, but still, she was reading submissions, hoping beyond hope that the next Salinger was in there, some place.
Okay. This one was kinda weird and interesting. “Your brain is being resculpted.” the first line of the 800 page manuscript read. Jessey-Lou felt at her skeletal nipple. It was puffy. She started to sweat.
No, not that kind of women’s literature, look, I—