Who Put the Tiffany Paper in the Rat’s Cage

by Lucinda Watson

A crime has been discovered on this Saturday morning.
My mother’s perfectly blue like a Maine sky stationery from Tiffany’s
has been used to line the rat’s cage.
It’s pretty clear who did this but we are lined up anyway.
In the front hall underneath the curving gallows of stairs we six stand
not unlike the condemned in a holding pen.
We know we are all condemned no matter how this plays out.
My father stands in front of our lineup:
“One of you has committed a crime and is lying about it.
Until that person steps forward no one will leave this house.”
We all know who has done this but my mother is standing behind my father making hand signals of don’t tell no matter what.
I feel like falsely confessing just so I can go to Betsey Beecher’s house.
Her father is never home and her mother thinks I am interesting.

Category: Poetry, SNHU Creative Writing, SNHU online creative writing

About the Author

Lucinda Watson has always been interested in helping others, as that is what rewards her in life. She has worked as a teacher, a healer, a volunteer, a naturalist guide, a storyteller, a board member of a few nonprofits and a philanthropist: sometimes all at once. Watson worked for more than 10 years at the Haas School of Business, teaching communication skills to the MBA population and recruiting business leaders to speak at Haas and host MBA’s in their corporate offices. She designed a successful program that teaches interview skills, and she is skilled at providing clear feedback on how to sell oneself and communicate clearly. While at Haas, Watson held seminars on business etiquette and interpersonal communication, as well as wrote a weekly column for the student newspaper. Prior to working at Haas, she taught at San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco. Watson was the Marketing Communications Director at Hospitality House, a homeless agency in San Francisco, where she raised $500,000 establishing a solid donor base for the agency. Watson has a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, a Master of Arts in Speech/Communication from San Francisco State University and a Master of Arts in Writing from Manhattanville College. Published by John Wiley in 2001, Watson wrote “How They Achieved: Stories of Personal Achievement and Business Success.” She co-authored a paper titled: “Aids Communication, Beliefs and Behaviors,” which was presented at the 1988 Symposium on Science Communication: Environmental and Health Research in Los Angeles.