“Who is this?” I asked, exasperated.
“I asked you first,” he said.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Okay, I didn’t. This is Elmer Doyp.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Oh no, I’m not,” he said.
A Terrible Dizziness
Repurposing a Challenge
I believe deeply in paying attention, in trying to be truly aware of the small and large things that happen to us and around us.
Present
Working led to questioning of the promises lingering, not quite upheld, and with no end in sight.
The Long Way Home
Fatema visited. I stood at the window, while she stayed about two meters away. Eesha didn’t know. It would have been wrenching, if she came and I couldn’t hug her. Or would she understand? She was seven after all and wanted to learn everything.
What is quarantine? She had asked. She would still call every day, and ask the same question: when would I go home?
We All Yearn for Defenestration
“If we’re going to do this, I kind of need you to do something first. Or during.”
“Like what?” I leered at him, trying to make my voice sexy.
“Throw me out the bedroom window.”
First and Lasts
Until high school, I want to be an eye doctor. Writing bubbles on the side but doesn’t occupy the center of my mind. But as a freshman, my English teacher, Mr. Kelly, gives me my first A+ on a paper, and the first one awarded to anyone in the class, he announces. He doesn’t say my name, but everyone knows. When I’m a junior, he tells my parents to buy me a copy of "Writer’s Market".