Six Characters in Search of An Author

"I think it's good for him, to have this modern family. Then he has to learn what we all have to, in this day and age, go with the flow, you know? Not all this, oh, that screwed me up or this screwed me up. No, none of the blame. It didn't work out and that's all. It didn't work out. That's all."

My father.

There's a book that follows me about you. I think about it how most women think about their child; what will he look like? What will he sound like? Will he love me how I love him? 

A man.

I sat in the cab with her, in a city with a different language, talking about her wedding. I said, "But, when will I meet my ...? Like, really? When?" I was joking, convinced the answer was not for a long time, not ever. Two days later you sent me a quote about love at first sight.

Life is just a big fucking joke, isn't it?

My brother.

"Yo, Kate, I'm so proud of you. Yo, man, fuck, shit is hectic in this circus. I'm gonna hang my baboon mask up at the top of the stairs and paint, WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS. Like, shit with people is hurting, too. I'm just too real for a lot of this stuff, you know? You guys gotta be gentle with me now. Real fragile. Yo, still, shit is so hectic. Are you listening? Why are you always working? Easy!"

He says "Easy!" instead of "Goodbye."

My mother.

And when she cries, I don't recognize her face. It looks like her face is breaking, melting, gone. She looks two years old. She's in a state of flux and when I explain that to her she say's that's the difficulty, that nothing lasts.

I am happy when transparency exists with a friend or lover, like child and mother, telepathic, it's magic when you love someone like that.

"It's okay, Mom. You're the child now. That's normal. That's supposed to happen."

My two girls.

We are each other's families now. Let's sit and get drunk and plan our own lives. Let's pick boys and leave for good, never come home. When our husbands die, and when our daughters do this to us, let's search Craigslist and live together in a big house in the east end and pay under eight hundred dollars a month.

Me.

Stick around, some real feelings might surface.