Fiction and Drama

Maria Marchinkoski

Strawberry margaritas are a depressant

Leo Costelloe, Woven Copper Underwear . 2019, woven copper, tin string. 15 ¾ × 9" and 9 × 13”. Photo by Aggie Cherrie at Eva Herzog Photography. Courtesy of the artist, NEVEN and Marcelle Joseph Collection.

T he day I met Levi Madison, I wanted to be good for him. I was working as a resident monitor at Serenity House, a group home for suicidal women and girls. My title silenced strangers with its gravity, but the job required little more than restocking a kitchenette with paper plates and taking notes in ten-minute increments. Had any patients deviated from their treatment plans? Had they brushed their teeth, combed their hair, and washed their dishes? Did movie screenings reduce stress and improve attention span? At the end of every shift, I sealed my answers in a manila envelope and filed them in the annex.

Movie screenings did not reduce stress.…