Oliver following a suspicious smell, sound, or object to the bottom of it.
Something happened to the kitchen today and nobody asked my opinion of it first, which I want on record before I explain the rest. It started with a smell. Not a bad smell exactly — I want to be fair about this — but an aggressive one, the kind that doesn’t stay politely in one … Read more
It arrived without any of the courtesies I consider standard for a new presence entering my sightline. No gradual approach along the fence, no polite pause at a distance to be assessed. One moment the gutter above the back room window was empty, the way it has always been empty, and the next there was … Read more
I want it on the record that I did not object to the candle itself. I objected to what it was doing. There is a difference, and I intend to explain it slowly, because I suspect no one in this house has fully appreciated the scope of the problem. She brought it home in a … Read more
She left the canvas shoes by the door again, toes pointed inward the way she always leaves them, like they’re ashamed of something. I want to be clear that under normal circumstances I do not dignify shoes with my attention. Shoes are beneath me, literally and philosophically. But today the shoes smelled wrong, and when … Read more
