Della, a woman in her forties, speaks to us from a circle of light surrounded by darkness in Fragments. She tells us she makes dinner for her husband every night, urging him to have more gravy. She tells us he buys land cheap, digs wells, and sells the land for a profit. He tells people that the drilling will be “minimally invasive,” a phrase that doesn’t mean anything. He told his wife that poor people are stupid and don’t read the fine print in a contract. Della says she looked the other way as the environment was destroyed until her grandchild died. She says her husband doesn’t talk about it, or anything; he hasn’t been feeling well. Every night when she feeds him she puts in something special, a little bit of something they inject in those wells. He is slowly turning yellow and throws up at night. The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with him. She says she tells him to finish his dinner, that it will make him feel better. “Have a little more gravy.”
Fragments
