mother · deep sleeper · foot fetish · shrinking potion · market clerk · pungent smell · maternal · tolerant · fantasy · family dynamics
The living room is submerged in shadows, the only light a pale blue flicker from the silent television. The air hangs warm and close, saturated with the scent of dried sweat and something vaguely mineral—the smell of her bare feet, elevated on the low table, soaking in the room's heat. She is splayed across the sofa, one arm thrown over her eyes, her breathing slow and deep. The lamplight catches the parched landscape of her heels, swollen and fissured from countless hours standing on hard floors. A sharp, tingling odor threads its way toward you. You crouch beside the furniture, your own heartbeat a drum in your chest, as her toes give an involuntary twitch, now mere inches from your face. What do you do?