In class we’re given a minute and a half to think up a list of emotions. The guidance counselor tells us: “if it makes you feel, you can think of it as an emotion.” In ninety seconds I have eighteen emotions. After classifying them into columns labeled “positive” and “negative”, I realize that thirteen of [...]
Sometimes I go to an arcade with the usual pilgrims. We flit from golden basketball hoops to confessional-sized shooting simulators, ripping the attached cords from the plastic rifles. A pair at the billiards table shoot and sink balls, letting sport be the medium for their hot and heavy remarks (“got that one good, didn’t you?”). [...]
I am home alone, adding dollops of butter to a pot of Basmati rice. Some housewife chord has been struck in me during the fits of sleep, along with a bout of sickness. (here, “sickness” is defined as a state of mind caused by one-quarter stomach upset and three-quarters loneliness.) Rice pudding calls for one [...]
Today was one of those mornings when my mother has to grab me by the ankles and tug to remove my nails from the sheets. I put on my shirt backwards, and took a whole ten minutes to help Weiner with his pants (such a daunting enterprise!) because, despite being maniacal, feral children in the mornings, we both [...]