Page 125 of The Secret to Belonging

it’s cheaper than Glendale

and there’s nothing keeping us here

we’ll be able to visit every weekend

just to make sure he’s okay

we need to make sure he’s okay

we’ll be able to visit every weekend

you put the receiver on the floor

lie down on the futon

their voices ping-pong back and forth

you stare at the ceiling

and have an epiphany

the drama, the dysfunction, the desperation

feed them

feed something inside them

something primal and hungry

alive at their cores

they are not victims

they have chosen to live this way

choose to live this way

the telephone prattles on

they don’t notice your silence

all this time

you’ve been throwing them a life preserver

when all they ever wanted was to drown

you write a note to Alison in lipstick

on the bathroom mirror

thank you

i love you

(i borrowed your suitcase)

you retrieve the envelope of cash