Bugs, critters, and other uninvited visitors.
There are three knocks a person can give at a door, and I have sorted all of them. There is the soft, apologetic knock of someone who already suspects they’re not wanted. There is the brisk double-knock of someone with somewhere else to be. And then there is the knock that happened today, which I … Read more
There were four extra shoes by the door before I even understood what was happening, and that should tell you everything about how prepared I was for this evening. Four shoes means two people, and two people is not nothing. One person arriving is an event. Two people arriving at once, within minutes of each … Read more
There was a knock at the door today, which is already a serious event, and then a second knock right after it, which is not how anyone in this house knocks, and so before the door had even opened I understood we were dealing with an outsider. I took up a position under the console … Read more
There is a spider in my window today, and I want it on record that I did not invite it. I found it this morning in the usual way I find everything important, which is by nearly walking face-first into it. The windowsill in the back room is mine. It has been mine since before … Read more
It came in sometime after the lamp went off, which is exactly the kind of cowardice I would expect from something with no bones. I heard it before I saw it — that specific dry, papery tick against the lampshade, once, twice, then nothing, which is worse than the sound itself because it means the … Read more
