Throwback Thursday: ‘Five-Finger Blade’ by Susan Pieters

I was in line at the grocery store when the young guy in front of me turned around to get a pack of gum. Then it became the usual gasping and pointing of onlookers as he saw the knife sticking out of my gut.

“She’s been stabbed!”

“Call 9-1-1!”

“You’re bleeding!”

The last of these wasn’t true, as I had stopped bleeding months ago. I lifted my hand with presidential calm to stop the cell phones from dialling for help, although more and more these days, I’d realized people were merely taking pictures. The hilt was rather ornate.
 
“I’m okay. I don’t need an ambulance.” Shoppers from other grocery lines crowded around. I addressed them. “It looks worse than it really is.”

People’s jaws do actually drop when they are shocked. I’ve seen it so much I’ve developed a theory. I believe it’s an evolutionary trait that saved lives when people ate poisonous berries; when the first person keeled over, everyone else opened their mouths and stopped chewing. The young guy beside me asked the standard question: “Are you an actress?” A lot of film companies shot nearby. I smiled noncommittally and dismissed his question in a way which led people to believe I was a middle-aged star who was unrecognizable without stage make-up. Those who worked in the film industry would nod at me speculatively and ask if I was a stunt double, or a teacher at one of the film schools. And even though it was now the middle of summer, children always asked if I was going to a Halloween party.