Is like a fire drill.

[jacktellslies]

The places I go, I am always the only white kid on the bus. And when the buildings turn from old to historic, and the people go pale and rich, I am the only kid on the bus. This city is like that.

I went to a friend's mother's wake without knowing much about her mother at all. I wish I did know. If any of you would ever like to tell the stories of your dead, please come find me. Such things are so important. We can trade. I'll make tea or bring out the whiskey for us and for our ghosts.

The boy at the bakery offered me a loaf of raisin walnut for free! I split the difference, although perhaps I should have made it more clear that what I gave him was for him, not some safe somewhere. This did not include the food that I bring home everyday, the surplus that is traded and gifted in the accidental little village where I do my work.

We only have one pair of pliers for pulling out fish bones. It has always been broken, and now it is lost. I walked to the little hardware store that I love on tenth street. I was paid for it, and I paid with money that was not mine. It was warm outside, and it was bright, and it was the exact opposite of anything I have been paid to do for such a long time. It was wonderful. I felt free.

I woke up kissed. It changed everything.

Oh, oh! And our bakery girl has agreed to a date with both of us! I am told that she blushed. I had thought that we'd been neglecting her horribly, but she'd been away in the mountains.

Comments

[cynical-ghost.livejournal.com]

I received many things from my paternal grandfather, including blue eyes, left-handedness and the inability to wear watches of any kind for long (they break or stop and never work again.) His hobby was, predictably, repairing clocks, especially very old ones. Unfortunately I did not inherit his height. He died when I was 7 of a blood clot while recovering from lung cancer. The smell of stale cigarette smoke reminds me of him and of my father. Sometimes I smell that scent in this house, where no one has smoked for almost 10 years. Sometimes I think it's him or them, reminding me.

[earlofgrey.livejournal.com]

That is so good. Thank you.