I was tucking my daughter into bed one night last week. Normally, she’s a huge hassle to make go to bed, but that night she seemed actually *eager* to go to sleep. I sat down in the chair beside her bed and asked her what story she wanted me to read. She smiled at me, but didn’t say anything.
“Smiley Shark?” I asked.
“No.”
“I Can Read With My Eyes Shut?”
“No…”
“Well what *would* you like me to read?”
“I wanna tell a story tonight!” she exclaimed with an enthusiasm I was unused to.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
We Don't Talk About Sarah
The original story can be found here.
I always wanted a little sister. I would beg my parents, "Please? Pleeeeaasssee?" and they'd roll their eyes and tell me that it wasn't as simple as I thought. That didn't stop me from talking about it every chance I got though.
When they brought Sarah home, it was the happiest day of my life. She was so cute! I couldn't wait to share my toys with her. I started going through them, deciding which ones were hers and which ones were mine. I borrowed my daddy's label maker and started putting our names on each thing so we wouldn't get them confused.
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| I always wanted a little sister... |
When they brought Sarah home, it was the happiest day of my life. She was so cute! I couldn't wait to share my toys with her. I started going through them, deciding which ones were hers and which ones were mine. I borrowed my daddy's label maker and started putting our names on each thing so we wouldn't get them confused.
The Canister
I was 9, going on 10 years old. We lived in a small town in Vermont, in a large, green house at the crest of a steep hill. Up the street from us, the road ended at a large forest. My brothers and I would walk up there and play in the shelter of the thick tree branches. None of the trees were suitable for climbing, but enough had fallen over that we could build makeshift forts from their remains. We’d explore the pine-needle carpet for bugs, whack through the ferns with sticks like explorers, or just play hide and seek in the dense thickets.
Just beyond the edge of the forest at the top of the hill, there was a little stream. Beside the stream was the burnt-out skeleton of an old house. We had been told that the property belonged to somebody, so stay off, but on occasion we felt brave enough to explore the wreckage and find buried treasure.
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Crawling House on Black Pond Road
The original story can be found here.
This is a place for people who can't sleep. I can't sleep. I have to share because maybe I won't feel if I share. Dr. Kirsch says to write and get it off my chest. Writing about it might release me from it. What should I title this? "Therapy"?
I'm currently seated at a computer terminal in a little, white, sterile room. There's about a half dozen other computer terminals here, all facin the same way like a classroom. There's posters on the walls with medical information. Everyone in em looks happy and complacent. Zombies. This place is called Sleep HealthCenters, just outside of Boston. It's a clinic for people with sleepin disorders.
I'm feelin a little loopy from the eszopiclone, so if my writing gets all garbled just deal with it and I can edit it when I'm clear-headed.
The doc wants me to do a little writing. He said that repetition can help with insomnia, and I gotta admit, if things were normal, this room and the clack of these keystrokes would probably make me pass right the fuck out.
Things ain't normal though.
This is a place for people who can't sleep. I can't sleep. I have to share because maybe I won't feel if I share. Dr. Kirsch says to write and get it off my chest. Writing about it might release me from it. What should I title this? "Therapy"?
I'm currently seated at a computer terminal in a little, white, sterile room. There's about a half dozen other computer terminals here, all facin the same way like a classroom. There's posters on the walls with medical information. Everyone in em looks happy and complacent. Zombies. This place is called Sleep HealthCenters, just outside of Boston. It's a clinic for people with sleepin disorders.
I'm feelin a little loopy from the eszopiclone, so if my writing gets all garbled just deal with it and I can edit it when I'm clear-headed.
The doc wants me to do a little writing. He said that repetition can help with insomnia, and I gotta admit, if things were normal, this room and the clack of these keystrokes would probably make me pass right the fuck out.
Things ain't normal though.
A Game of Flashlight Tag
The original story can be found here.
When I was ten, I played a late night game of flashlight tag with a bunch of neighborhood kids. If you don't know what flashlight tag is, it's the same as tag, but you play it in the dark, the person who's "it" gets a flashlight, and they have to yell the name of the person they see with it in order to "tag" them. It was really cloudy that night, and most people had their curtains drawn, so it was the perfect level of darkness for hiding in.
The side of the street my house was on was skirted by a broad length of woods. That was basically the boundary for our side of the game. You could run through any yard, even go across the street and run through their yards, but you weren't allowed to hide in the woods, because it was too difficult to find anyone in there, and it was very easy to trip over tree limbs or end up with poison oak. Of course, this rule was frequently and flagrantly ignored when people got too close to being caught. They'd duck off into the bushes for a few seconds, or run behind a group of trees to evade capture.
When I was ten, I played a late night game of flashlight tag with a bunch of neighborhood kids. If you don't know what flashlight tag is, it's the same as tag, but you play it in the dark, the person who's "it" gets a flashlight, and they have to yell the name of the person they see with it in order to "tag" them. It was really cloudy that night, and most people had their curtains drawn, so it was the perfect level of darkness for hiding in.
The side of the street my house was on was skirted by a broad length of woods. That was basically the boundary for our side of the game. You could run through any yard, even go across the street and run through their yards, but you weren't allowed to hide in the woods, because it was too difficult to find anyone in there, and it was very easy to trip over tree limbs or end up with poison oak. Of course, this rule was frequently and flagrantly ignored when people got too close to being caught. They'd duck off into the bushes for a few seconds, or run behind a group of trees to evade capture.
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