She called me and I didn’t answer. I didn’t answer the first time, or the third, or the tenth.

I didn’t want to hear from her, ever.

I hadn’t talked to my sister in years and was doing good work forgetting the sound of her voice.

She abandoned our family, thinking she didn’t need us. We weren’t good enough, or rich enough, or interesting enough for her.

I used to say she wouldn’t piss on me if I were on fire, and maybe that’s true, but finally I answer:

“WHAT?!”

“Please, I need you, I’m sorry.”

“Well, that’s too bad.”… Read the rest

“We need to talk.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the alien you’re hiding in the attic.”

“You want it gone?”

“No, I just think if you’re going to hide an alien it shouldn’t be in the attic. We have a basement, that’s more dungeon-y.”

“But I want her to feel welcome.”

“Oh, it’s a her now, is it?”

“It’s always been.”

“What are you doing with her up there?”

“Experiments…”

“Are you probing her, Carl? Are you playing doctor with the alien?”

“No, Maude, I’d never! Maude, no, don’t go up there!”

“I’m going!”

“No! Uh, I can explain the lingerie!”… Read the rest

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

Be here now.

That’s a thing, right?

I feel like I spend half my time in the past and half in the future, and honestly don’t enjoy the present moments as much as I should.

But I worry about the future constantly. I worry about not being able to afford things, specifically, and specifically my rent.

Being that I work at a place that has a food pantry, I see and hear about a lot of homeless people, and I am starting to consider being homeless one … Read the rest

As the dust settled, she looked around the ruined room.

The staircase had fallen and lay in a wooden heap, trapping her inside the basement.

After all of the noise and chaos she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Now, all she had to do was wait to be rescued.

She stared up at the little window near the basement ceiling, her only source of light for the last five years.

It had taken her that long to make it, but she knew how to get things to explode.

And the man who took her lay underneath the stairs.… Read the rest

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

When we had our family Christmas, Bobby told me that he had something special coming for me, but it hadn’t arrived yet. I’d have to wait a little while.

I’m not a big gift lover, I mean, I love gifts, but I’m not going to get annoyed if one doesn’t come for me.

But then the mail came yesterday and he brought me a big, slim package.

It’s a copy of a 1961 edition of LOOK Magazine in which my grandfather was profiled and interviewed about his time as a submariner … Read the rest