For His Safety_The View from My Swing_The Last Time I Was Beautiful_I Quit
Catalog Guide:
For His Safety
Warning: depiction of alcoholism, child abuse.The light seemed so dim I could barely see. I stood, gripping the desk’swww.onedoor.cc edge as hard as I could. Am I falling? No, I thought, you are fine. But these conflicts were so bad they affected my balance. What year is this? I know that. It is January 5th, 2125、 I did not understand what was happening. I had wordless thoughts. Emotions? Whatever they were, I believe they frightened me. Others spoke like voices in my head. Maybe this is thinking for yourself? The Guru has always guided me. But now I wondered if it was malfunctioning.You have run diagnosti...
The View from My Swing
Packed away for safe keeping, I have an assortment of old black and white pictures. Many of which has information written on the back partially covered with bits of black paper, as if someone had hurriedly ripped them out of one of those old photo albums from the forties and fifties, held on with little black triangular fasteners that fit each corner of the picture. I have no information of what year they were taken, or who they are, and now, after all these years, there is no one left to ask. In 1956, when I was six years old our family moved into a three-bedroom house in a brand-new neig...
The Last Time I Was Beautiful
“I hope you don’t mind me asking,” I say, “but aren’t you a little old to be a new hairdresser?”The fifty-something woman in the reception area looks up expectantly, holding her job application and freshly-minted beautician's license in her hands. “I earned a perfect score on the cosmetology exam,” she offers almost apologetically, with a thin smile. Her feet are fidgeting underneath her chair. I stand with my callused hands on my ample hips. I audibly sigh. Finding experienced hair stylists is hard enough, but breaking in new ones? Hard pass. I’ve trained plenty of would-be hairdressers who h...
I Quit
“I quit!” two simple words that got me scolded when I’d scream them as a child. Growing up my parents told me quitting means failure. They would then go on to list some famous person like Albert Einstein and say, “if he quit you wouldn’t have this light to do your homework!” to which I would have to say through sobs “it was Edison who invented the lightbulb.” But I guess their logic worked well enough because, I made it through high school and I’m going to college in the fall. Right now, though? I’m working at Patties Diner. I’ve worked here so long that I know all the regulars. Craig comes in...