Cheap Wine

These are two pieces written after discovering the site "Type Trigger", which provides writing prompts and asks for submissions of up to 300 words. These both came from the prompt "cheap wine".

(1) She lives on cheap wine and animal crackers, drifting through her days in a haze of past remembrances. She sleeps by the fire because her bed is too cold. Ashes pile in the grate; he used to clean it for her. The new black dress lies, rumpled, on the floor, worn only once. Day and night pass in silence.

(2) She drinks cheap wine poured into an expensive bottle, hides the shameful empties under the basement sink. Her clothes bear brand names, selected carefully from thrift stores and cleaned with an eye for perfection. Since he died, life has become a front, an endless weave of lies to prove she can make ends meet on her own. Her mother-in-law pops in unannounced, picks at her food in distaste and searches for overdue bills and cancellation notices, all the while maintaining a steady stream of barbs packaged as commiserations and condolences. The dog slouches in the corner, still waiting for his master to come home.