I am stuck here on earth, and every day is a chance to be less than perfect.
The one thing I suspected about Jim Jeffreys was that he must be Christian, churchy—he had the patience and optimism of someone who thought Jesus was watching.)
Wall, hanging by the cords, when my phone finally rang. A bitchy voice on the other end demanded Amy’s first pet’s name. Woooonk-woooonk-woooonk!
Twice-removed somethings and whom I only mildly terrorized.
Too serious, Amy, you’re too uptight, Amy, you overthink things, you analyze too much, you’re no fun anymore, you make me feel useless, Amy, you make me feel bad, Amy. He took away chunks of me with b...
To think
That night the light was on in Ben’s room and someone was talking.
Streaking out
Stomach didn’t hurt the way it did with my wife—the constant dread of returning to my own home, where I wasn’t welcome.
So I turned on the radio and of course it was a Tom Petty song—is there ever a time you turn on the radio and don’t hear a Tom Petty song?—so
Slowly, slowly pulling up. Or grabbing hold of Debby’s arm, vise-like, for an Indian rub and what starts as a joke gets more and more frantic, him rubbing until he draws speckles of blood, his teeth g...
Showtime! 6-0-0 the clock said—in my face, first thing
She smoked so much she smelled like tobacco even after a shower, like if she slit her skin, menthol vapor would ooze out. He’d come to like it, it smelled like comfort and home to him, the way warm br...
Now her stomach knotted as she remembered the Free-Lunch kids and her patronizing smiles toward them as they presented their dog-eared cards, and the steamy cafeteria ladies would call it out: Free Lu...
Like rules that make sense, not rules without logic),
He's always been moody. Even when he was a baby he was like a cat. All snuggly one second and then the next, he'd be looking at you like he had no idea who you were.
Four kids clambering up her, the smile was bigger, but hassled, and she was always leaning away from one of us. I picture her as constantly under siege by her children.
You’d be my pariah, and I’d love you no matter what, and I’d shield you from everything, Desi said.
Your health is not a debt you just cancel. The body collects, Camille.
You two worshipful, adoring assholes created that thing down the hall and set her loose on the world.