Will I be chained to a work table? she should have asked, would have asked, knowing what she knows. Will I sleep, by my own free choice, out of fear of being docked, will I sleep beneath that table five nights a week? she should have asked, would have asked, knowing what she knows. Will I work, by my own free choice, out of fear of wetting myself, will I work all day without water? Will the bosses let me use the bathroom more than once per shift? She should have asked. She does send money home, not much for here, but for home a tidy sum. She makes a living in a new exciting country. Work is steady. Nothing they told her was untrue. She lives among women who understand her, speak her language and would do anything for her. They also should have asked. The boss would have to threaten them, their lives would have to be at stake, before they would turn against her, or she against them. Will others turn against me? she should have asked, would have asked, knowing what she knows. True, she is proud of the work she does, proud to send money home to her children. True, all true. Will my letters home be censored? she should have asked. She didn’t ask. If letters from home upset me, if reading them hurts production, will letters from home be denied me? Will I try to warn my children against this life? she should have asked. As years go by and my daughters thrive at home, with the help of what little I send them, will I stop trying to frighten them? Will I want them with me here? If they want to help their daughters, knowing what they know, won’t they ask?
Copyright ©1999-2006 David Hodges
Very Short Novels 
2 comments
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September 29, 2006 at 8:56 am
mshahin
I really enjoyed reading this. I especially liked ‘she should have asked’ ‘they should have asked’.
It gives it a distinct tone throughout. It is like anaphora in poetry. Anaphora really gives power to any piece of writing.
I’ll be checking back in the future.
Thanks. I used the technique without knowing what it was called.
–David
June 16, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Somerset Bob
Anaphora. What a lovely word. New to me too. Politicians use it to good effect in their tub-thumping speeches, don’t they?
I found this interesting definition at http://portal.bibliotekivest.no/terminology.htm :
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[noun] The occurrence of anaphora is characteristic of human language, both written and spoken. It is a linguistic element which makes reference back to another element such as in a relative clause like ‘He picked up the packet of sweets , which [the packet] was on the table’. The most common occurrence of anaphora is in the use of pronouns as in, for example, ‘David went to see a play at the theatre. He enjoyed it [the play] very much’. There other form of anaphora which are more difficult to identify and interpret, such as, ‘Peter wanted to go out as well as John [wanted to go out]; Petra also [wanted to go out]’. The frequent natural occurrence of anaphora is a good illustration, among many, of the difficulty of programming a computer to analyse text and gain a proper understanding.
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Wow. I’ll bet not a lot of people know that. Language, she is beautiful.
She’s a babe!
–David