2 Truths & a Lie

I’ve been arrested. Also, I got out of the handcuffs. I can make my hands smaller than my wrist, making escape easy.

I once snuck away from the Homecoming dance, and went driving around with some friends. Our driver was 14 years old, with a school permit. We thought we were so cool. The very next day, that friend died. He was with his dad. They got into a car accident. He was thrown from the vehicle, and didn’t survive. I went to his funeral. Seeing him lay in that casket, I made the decision that I would never look again. The image of my friend laying there stuck with me, forever. I’ve never chosen to walk past the casket of someone I loved, after that. I prefer to hang onto the memories of their life, not death.

When I was a toddler, I disappeared from my parents sight. They found me sitting with our elderly neighbor. Her name was Zula. After that, I went to visit her, every single day. I’d bring her mail in for her. I helped her find her cane often. She would make me peanut butter crackers, and leave little candies for me. She called them “fairy treats”. When I was 12 years old, I went to her house. I found her sitting on her floor, waiting. She knew I’d be coming. She’d fallen. I went and got help. She left in an ambulance, never to return to that home. She had broken her hip. She went to a nursing home, after that. I walked to that nursing home every Friday, to visit her. She passed away when I was 17 years old. I keep a card from her, in my hope chest. In her perfect cursive writing, are the words, “To my best friend”. She never had any children of her own. She left her home to my family.

These are actually all true…