Cristina Chopalli

Cristina Chopalli holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Texas State University and a BS in Education from Baker University. She is a former essayist for India Currents Magazine. Cristina is currently writing a memoir about family, dysfunction, and identity. She lives in a suburb of Chicago.

Almond Joy

I see her as I drive into the grocery store’s parking lot.
Hungry. No food. Please help.
A woman balances atop the lot’s concrete curb, biceps taut, a handwritten sign held above her head.
A toddler rides the woman’s hip. His fingers curl into the sweaty T-shirt across her breasts.
I slow my car.