swanpatronus's profile

I ignore the doorbell the first time it rings, assuming that it’s either yet another salesman or someone claiming to hold the key to my salvation. Although I run a hair salon out of my living room, I don’t have any appointments scheduled for today, and my clients aren’t the type to drop in unannounced. Sunken into my oversized couch with the latest novel from my favorite no-brains-required series, I’m loathe to move for anything less than a national disaster. But much ...

Forgotten art hangs in the dusty hallway Debris crunching under our feet We obtain the key from where it rests Underneath an approximation of a woman’s beauty Painters’ meanings are irrelevant, she tells me Their works are only viable to their bitter subjects We close the door behind us Hoping to retain a pin’s silence It tastes like dirt in here, I say But she ignores my complaint and wanders forwards Her feet are stones in a tin can I cannot help but feel that the art gran...

“Time travel is most definitely impossible,” says the young man to the old man. The old man looks at him with a twinkle in his eye. “After all you’ve seen, all you’ve done, how can you still say that? How can you say that anything is impossible?” The young man chortles. “It is because of all I’ve seen and done that I make this remark.” He settles down in an easy chair near the fireplace, regarding his counterpart with respect. “For I cannot believe that all the wrongs I’ve seen, and yes, hav...

There’s an old tree out in the backyard. Granny says I’m not allowed to go near it in case it falls over on top of me, but sometimes when she’s not looking I walk over to it anyways. Once I even got close enough to touch its rough bark before Granny saw me. I didn’t see why it was such a big deal, because to me that tree looked sturdier than the fireman my mother ran away with when I was eight. Daddy left soon after that. He went out for a carton of milk one day when we were visiting Granny a...

One-hundred. Ninety-nine. Ninety-eight. Hi, there. Don’t mind me. Ninety-seven. Ninety-six. Ninety-five. Take a seat if you want. I don’t mind being watched. And I think something very interesting is about to happen. Ninety-four. Ninety-three. Ninety-two. Why am I staring at the wall, you ask? Ninety-one. Ninety. Eighty-nine. Just look at how interesting it is! All those little raised areas and all those little not-raised areas, swirling around each other. Eighty-eight. Eighty-seven. Eighty-s...