I go to loud places to search for someone to be quiet with

The past reflects eternally between two mirrors—the bright mirror of words and deeds, and the dark one, full of things we didn’t do or say.

I am reminded how close I am to an alternate world in which I am happy, a world that occupies the same space as this one but is somehow distinct from it. And while that better world may be difficult to find, it is as close to me as the air in front of my face.

If it takes a village to raise a child it takes a village to abuse them

These shifting and confused gusts of memory never lasted for more than a few seconds

The waitress approaches. “Can I get you anything else?” “How about another life,” he suggests. Tactfully, the waitress walks away, pretending she didn’t hear him.

The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.

I say: “Have a nice day.” “Likewise,” he replies, and then smiles. “Not to mention a nice life.” I smile, and then walk away, still smiling. Who the hell does this guy think he is, saying something like that? How dare he say something like that. Unless he means it. No one says something like that. Unless they are actually, inconceivably content. I’m still smiling, but then a sobering thought sideswipes me (again): That man is a way I’ll never be.