Homesick for Another World

The anonymous narrator of “Slumming,” a high school English teacher, spends her summers in the town of Alna, a five-hour drive from her home in an unnamed city. Alna is a town characterized by poverty, teen pregnancies, and an active drug trade. The narrator, who owns her vacation home, considers herself to be above the people of Alna, and avoids speaking to the locals as much as she can. Despite her many criticisms of Alna, the narrator enjoys spending her time “slumming” in such an impoverished place.

The narrator’s only significant relationship in Alna is with Clark, a local man who acts as property manager while the narrator is out of town during the school year. Clark and the narrator met during her first summer in Alna; they had a brief sexual affair, and Clark introduced the narrator to the downtown depot where drugs are sold. Although the narrator and Clark are no longer close, she maintains the drug addiction, visiting the depot every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The narrator describes the locals who sell drugs as mindless “zombies” wandering around the depot.

One afternoon, the narrator arrives home from buying drugs to find a heavily pregnant teenager standing in front of her house.