Flat Champagne

Maliyah sipped shame, bitterness, and finality. She forced the flat champagne down. You bought it you drink it. It tasted nothing like it had when first opened. After the cork pop came sparkle, effervescence, and excitement. All gone, all gone. She surveyed the dining table, a little drunk, and took in its half-finished setting for two adults and one child. Damn, that food had been good before it got stone cold. How long have I been sitting here? It had to be at least an hour.

She didn’t have the energy to clean up, only to sit and drink, despite the poor quality of the contents of her glass. She heard the TV through the door to the lounge. Finn was still just as occupied as he’d been before she began this vigil of introspection and depression. He had no idea, not yet. Five-year-olds overhear almost everything but interpret very little. She would have to tell him at some point. But not tonight. She tipped her head back and drained her glass. As she reached for the bottle and its last few dregs, she thought about how different she had felt only a few hours ago at the store.



“Winner, winner, chicken dinner!” the clerk crowed. Maliyah knew his name, it was there on his nametag, but she always thought of him as her neighbour’s son. Using his name would mean he was a teenager and too much time had passed since high school ended. She didn’t usually want to think about time passing. But today it didn’t matter one bit.

“First prize?” she said to him, “are you sure?”

“Yes, I am, Mrs. Payton,” said the clerk as he handed back the scratched ticket. Maliyah took it with both hands. She looked at the thin cardboard and the revealed numbers all lined up. Twenty thousand dollars. It’s true.

“Congratulations, dear,” said a voice behind her. She turned and looked but already knew who was there. The tone told her instantly.

“Thanks, Daphne,” she said. She made sure to smile at her.

“Your husband will be so pleased,” said Daphne. Again, her tone said more than her words. Her dark winged eyeliner made her gaze piercing. Maliyah thanked her again and left the store as quickly and politely as she could. Fucking Daphne. Maliyah knew her win would be all over town within the day. Our win. It was as much Colin’s as hers and he would indeed be pleased.

She grinned as she headed back to the supermarket. She’d already bought this week’s groceries, but now she needed to create a celebration. She re-walked the aisles with a new sense of freedom. She could buy anything in here. She went to the liquor first. Four champagne bottles went into the trolley. Real champagne, not that cheap prosecco junk. She wheeled around to the butchery section, intent on picking the most expensive steak when she had an epiphany.

Why cook at all? She could order everything in and just enjoy it for once. She paused by the frozen goods section. The scale shift intrigued her. Just having this extra money opened up so many choices previously inaccessible. Is this how rich people do it? The truly wealthy must experience things she never imagined, let alone an untouched oven for one meal. Well, she wasn’t anywhere near that level. Comfortably middle class was the descriptor she most often used for their current lifestyle.

She spotted chicken nuggets and ice cream. Finn was part of this celebration too and she decided to cook for him alone. If you can call using an air-fryer cooking. Satisfied with her trolley contents, she headed home. As she drove, she wondered if they should give some of the money away. To a charity perhaps. By the time Daphne was finished there would be an expectation of generosity from their friends and neighbours. Fucking Daphne.

Maliyah’s high continued after she picked up Finn from school. She treated him to candy and cartoons and put on her nicest outfit, the one she’d been saving. Later, when Colin came home, she hugged him and told him straight away. His eyes lit up. He spun her around in a way she had not experienced since their wedding day. She watched his face unwind as she opened the champagne and explained the effortless dinner to come. She’d never seen him so relaxed.

They ate as a family. She dressed Finn in a sweater she’d knitted for him. He looked terribly cute and she vowed to make a matching pair of mittens. Maliyah felt like one of those reality housewives as they argued about what to do with the money. “We need at least half of it for the renovation,” said Colin.

“For the holiday,” she countered. To talk about money this way was another novelty. To discuss what they had rather than what they lacked. Every previous conversation about money was cut through with anxiety. She always turned up the TV for Finn so he couldn’t hear. Now though, there was an easy back and forth, like talk-show hosts about to do a giveaway. They still hadn’t decided to whom they should donate ten percent.

“Is it for our friends?” Finn asked. Both his parents looked at him.

“Yes, sweetie,” said Maliyah, “we want to help our friends.” He’d obviously understood something of what they’d been talking about. He often surprised her with his ability to pick certain things out of adult conversations and parrot them back. This time he was almost spot on. She smiled at him. He had started school at the beginning of the year and had made new friends all on his own. She wiped his face and reminded him about ice cream later. Then he ran to his room and ruined everything.



Maliyah sighed loud enough to echo through the kitchen. She felt terrible for even thinking of blaming her child. It could never be his fault. His little heart simply wanted to help. He could not be blamed for wanting to make a list of his school friends. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t write them all. It wasn’t his fault he went into Colin’s study. He only wanted to find his Daddy’s book, the one with all Daddy’s friends' names in it, the special friends that only came to the house while she was at work. Her son knew before she did. She slammed her empty glass down on the table as the scene replayed in her mind.



80s music filled the room. Colin dipped her like they were teenagers. She laughed as Finn ran back into the kitchen. He held a small black notebook up high. He looked so proud. “Mummy, Daddy, look!” he said as he ran up to them, “we can help Daddy’s friends.” Maliyah righted herself and reached for the book at the same time Colin did. She got there first.

Finn demanded ice cream and Colin’s eyes went very wide. She opened the book. So many names all carefully written in her husband’s tidy script. Each had a number next to it. Colin kept raising his hand to her and letting it fall. Finn pulled at her skirt. She turned the page. It kept going, more and more names and numbers, but now there were images too. She saw Daphne’s name. Literally fucking Daphne. Crude drawings recorded acts she had never done. All highlighted with Finn’s crayons. He’d drawn his own pictures in the blank pages. Trying to help Daddy’s friends.

She closed the notebook and pushed it under the waistband of her skirt. “Ice cream?” she said to Finn with a smile she pulled up from many years of customer service. She smoothed her blouse down and fixed Colin with a look. He stayed rooted to the spot by the kitchen table as she gave Finn the whole tub and set him down in front of a movie about talking cars. She closed the door to the lounge and the man she married.

So many movies and shows had portrayed this moment. Maliyah searched them for inspiration but came up blank. In the end, she only had one question. “How long?” she asked.

“I never stopped loving you,” said Colin. He would have said more but he reached toward her and she slapped him. It shocked both of them. Their marriage had never experienced any kind of violence. He stepped back, his hand to his red cheek, his expression a strange mirror to Finn’s as he begged for ice cream.

“Leave,’ she said in a whisper. He begged to stay. She lifted her blouse and showed the top of the notebook. “If you stay a moment longer this whole thing goes online.” Colin paled and walked out of the kitchen. She sat back down at the table and listened as she heard him pack a bag and drive away. Finn stayed mercifully distracted. She picked up the champagne bottle and began to think about how she got here.



Maliyah removed the notebook from her skirt and set it beside her lipstick-stained glass. Then she reached into her blouse pocket and pulled out the winning ticket. She set it beside the notebook and looked at the trio of objects. No more drinking, at least for now. She bought the ticket with her own money. Money earned from her second job on Saturdays. On Saturdays when Colin would use that damn notebook. It was her money, goddammit.

The notebook was insurance. Not the kind she ever wanted to have, but insurance, nonetheless. It would get her full custody, child support, and the house. She might not even need a lawyer at all. Which meant she could use the twenty thousand however she wanted. A holiday? Definitely. There would be plenty left over for her plan.

Maliyah cleaned up. She put the ticket and the notebook in a sealed plastic bag and stashed them in the freezer. She joined Finn in the lounge and told him Daddy had gone on a trip and would be back soon. Finn nodded and blinked slowly, about to fall asleep. The empty couch welcomed her. She pulled out a scarf she had been working on and kept one eye on the movie as she arranged her needles. Knitting always helped her focus. She pulled up the names from the notebook in her mind. This would work. She knew it. She slipped into a rhythm as the needles clicked softly against each other.

Out of wool and time, Maliyah began to knit revenge.