Night

Sometimes at night, she'd wait to hear the motorcycle down the street. She hoped it would come tonight. Not to take her away, but keep her feelings at bay. And there they would be. Just far enough to not get hurt.

A girl decided to go to an estate sale on the far side of town. She looked through the dresses, electric scissors, and hiking the western hills. When she came upon an orange booklet about insects, she thought of her father. He’d had one similar and read it in his easy chair on Sunday evenings. It had a sticker of five dollars on the inside. When she walked up to pay the man who sat in a blue camping chair he used an electric calculator (again, one that was like her father used to have) to come to a total of $2.50. The girl was surprised. And the man said, “Was that not what you thought?” And the girl said, “I didn’t realize it was half off, but that’s even better.” After she left she second-guessed her own words. Why is it better? She thought. Why is it better to be half off?

They sat at the dining room table hoping to find a solution to Heather's drug problem. This of course was no issue to Heather herself. She knew the solution: more drugs. Her father was concerned about her embarrassing the family again. He'd gone through her room three more times since she'd figured out the first time. Her lamp shade was twisted just a tad to the left and a letter from her boyfriend was folded one more time than she had originally. Heather found this behavior from her father embarrassing. She'd told him: You want to know embarrassing? Try running away from your family.