January 3rdToday Olive Pratt told me the story of how her favorite uncle died.
He was an old vet from Vietnam and he used to think that people were after him. He thought they were trying to kill him and his family. He bought her an antique German Luger for Christmas one year, for protection against the enemies.
He did a lot of acid.
One year, she didn’t get a Christmas present. Her dad drove over to the uncle’s shoddy apartment and found him dead on the floor. He’d been there for a month. When she heard the story from her father it forced itself under her skin and waited there, like a parasite, until enough time had gone by that she got used to it and it was no longer painful.
I told her I once had a hamster that died. I was young, and I had a bad dream. I woke up, went over to its cag
