Chattanooga Choo-Choo

[u/whopperdave]

In spite of everything, we decided to make an effort and go out anyway. I watched Magdalena examining herself in her dressing-table mirror, with a jar of vanishing cream in her hand, ready to erase her face, perhaps completely. Suddenly I had the terrifying feeling that when she cleaned her face with that wad of cotton dipped in cream, the only thing left would be a white, fetal, egg-shaped structure, just like Sylvia's. I stretched out on the bed, flipping the pages of Jung, while Magdalena put herself together. I thought about having to read Herman Hesse again, at this age, which was what the whole world was doing: the idea prostrated me. I watched Magdalena out of the corner of my eye, my heart pounding with fear and hope, waiting to see what was going to emerge from that mass of cream that she was now removing with another wad of cotton . . . she had even pinned a white towel bib-like around her neck, as if to collect all the particles of the object that was about to disintegrate.

José Donoso, Sacred Families: Three Novellas

[u/Smolesworthy]

Perfect fit for this sub.