Stadium Pub, Walnut Creek

 

Yesterday's writing

That’s not the concern in St. Louis. Tornados are the thing there. A while back they had a series rip through and now you can drive down the street to the tune of torn-up houses that have sat for years without repair. Punched-down roofs, kicked-in doors. It’s like God decided that the Gateway to the West had been a bad boy and needed some hands-on divine discipline. Lydia grew up to the tune of the sirens, that wailing wind, but never got used to them. That was easily half the reason she left – she couldn’t take the idea of the already half-destroyed city being chipped away around her. Sometimes you leave what you love because seeing it decimated hurts your heart, your being. You would rather be without it than let it be without itself.

Was this Jack or Maizie?

 I was pregnant and tired.

2010

 

Today's writing

We saw more of him. That was the first indication of trouble. Up until he turned 14, he was always with his friends or in his room, texting, phoning, Snapchatting, whatever. We chose not to put too many rules or restrictions on him. Boundaries, sure. No swearing at us, no disappearing, no violence. Grades had to be at a certain level, absences at a particular low. But other than that, we lived and let live, and he didn’t seem to abuse it.

Then again, what did we know? Maybe he was kicking puppies on the way to school, smoking weed in the locker room before PE. Could be that he flicked boogers at his teachers behind their backs, put kick-me signs on the coats that hung over their chairs. Possibly he was just Jax, and what we knew of him was less than we believed we did.

 

Alta Mesa Center for the Arts, March 12