On Independence Day, one of the Lost Girls woke up to find that her partner had abandoned her, taking her last fifty dollars and the X box. She was left with several children, no transportation and no job. By evening she found out that he’d moved in with her best friend. The day after, when government buildings opened up again, I drove her downtown to get his name officially kicked off the lease and the Job and Family Services... Read more
All right, a pleasant story this time. I’ll tell you about how I ended up wandering around a chicken coop, trying to save a chicken named Camilla. Last week I was taking refuge at my dear friends’ house, with their menagerie of beautiful cats inside and spoiled city chickens in the yard. It’s the very house I’d like to live in someday. I want an urban farm with a pollinator garden, raised beds of beautiful tomatoes and too many pets.... Read more
There’s a game I play sometimes, and the name of the game is “eating.” If I go too long without eating I get sick, but lots of foods make me sick as well. I had an undiagnosed gluten sensitivity until I was about thirty; even then, I flunked the celiac’s test, but the GI said I should stay gluten free anyway because I had all the symptoms and severe IBS can be worsened by gluten. For awhile, on doctor’s... Read more
My grandfather told the best stories. He told me all about the family, and the nutty adventures they had. He himself was one of seven children and he fathered seven children, so there were lots of stories to tell. They start to run together in my mind and I am desperate to write them all down before I get to be much older myself. I can’t tell them to you the way my grandfather did, because I’m not as talented... Read more
Yesterday I drove back from Columbus to Steubenville, remembering. The aunt who wrote to tell me I was disowned last week is the oldest living daughter of my beloved grandparents– Grandpa told me they had two miscarriages before they got my aunt. Then they had my mother. Then, a daughter whose nickname was “Sister B,” because my mother was my aunt’s first sister, Sister A. Sister B was called Sister B so often that she never heard her actual name... Read more
Yesterday we got up early and went to Mass, at a church where nobody knows us. I didn’t go to the welcoming place I’d found in June because the bishop got a bee in his bonnet and sent the Paulist Fathers away, which made me cry when I heard. We went to a different parish. It, too, felt good. The greeter asked if we’d be back and I said we will the next time we come to town. On... Read more
I woke up to the purring of a black cat who was climbing on the guest bed. We were at my friend the witch’s house, where I’m taking refuge for a few days. Holly calls herself a hag, from the Greek word “Hagia” for “Holy.” She loves the Virgin Mary more than anybody I know, and wants to make a temple to her, though she isn’t herself a Christian. She owns several peaked witch’s hats and has the phases... Read more
Where do you go to hide when you aren’t wanted? I have been looking for hiding places my entire life. In the first and second grade at the great big Catholic school I would go to the nurse’s office with feigned illnesses every other day, to see if I could get sent back home where I could read and play with my dolls in peace. I knew the teachers were annoyed by my anxiety and panic, and I didn’t... Read more
On Sunday Michael, Adrienne and I went to Pittsburgh. We didn’t have much money but we had half a tank of gas and our museum memberships, and I needed a day out. So we packed a bag of string cheese and bottled water, and we went. Michael wanted to go to the conservatory, but I couldn’t stand the thought of the conservatory in all this heat. We split up, and I took Adrienne to the art museum. We stayed... Read more
I saw one of those scary comments about “witchcraft” today. If you were raised in the Charismatic Renewal, you know the kind of comments I’m talking about. This one was a priest who was trying to do something good, to tell people that it’s okay for Catholics to read fantasy novels and play role-playing games. I’m glad he got that much right. But then he said “Real witchcraft calls upon the preternatural power of demons to make concrete change... Read more
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