“I had the worst temper of anyone I’d ever met. That was before I went back to holding people. My life was really missing connection and intimacy, and allowing myself to reclaim that just cleared so much up.” For her, “holding” is exactly what it sounds like. She invites people over to her apartment — […]
“I think if 10 people show up, I’ll be happy.” He invited closer to 30. “Ten would be nice, but even if one person shows up, I’m going to be really happy about it.” He’s the guy throwing the party. “I sent out those dumb emails with the cartoons that say ‘Please Come to This’ […]
“He’s what I need to give up. Just him. Him and I’m good.” She tells me that for the New Year, she’s changing the locks and deleting his number from her phone. The house they shared on Gano Street is a little quieter than it used to be since he got an apartment in Warwick. […]
“The last time she was here, it felt forced. It felt like we were trying too hard. I know I felt that way, but I still wanted to try. This year, her kid’s in — I think he’s in Italy or something. He’s traveling. She was just going to sit at home. I said, ‘Why […]
“He knows it’s my reindeer. Let him say whatever he wants, but he knows damn well that reindeer is mine.” I got a tip that there was a custody battle brewing on Blackstone Boulevard between two septuagenarians over a decorative subarctic mammal. Like something out of Dickens, the story begins in two houses, both facing […]
“There’s a system for the books. I don’t know what it is, but — I look at a book and I know where it belongs — on what shelf. It’s a feeling you get looking at it.” The books are everywhere. He makes sure I finish my coffee and then makes me another cup while […]
“This would have been her big Thanksgiving, because she was always saying how, you know, when she was gone, if we all could do the holidays and not ‘eff’ it up, then that would mean she did right by us. She would not have said ‘eff’ it up, by the way, but she would have […]
“The last guy gave me $10 on a $22 order. I told him ‘Thank you, thank you so much.’ He said he used to do the same thing I’m doing. He lives in a big house now. Did you see that house? Imagine living in a house that big.” He’s been doing this for four […]
“I wasn’t young for very long.” She takes me to Glorious West African Cuisine on Elmwood Avenue. We eat fried plantains and dry rice, and she accuses me of picking at my food. “You finicky? I used to call my son finicky. Then he got older and now he’ll eat whatever you put in front […]
On the second floor of an apartment on Parade Street, there’s a man with no shirt standing in front of a window trying not to draw Superman. “It’s hard when something gets inside your head and you feel like you have to get it out, but it’s a waste of time. It’s a waste of […]
