For Peace Of Mind, I Will Lie

I Know When A Story Is Finished When There Is Not A Single Thing More I Can Think To Do To It. And Since I Know At The Start What The Last Line Will Be, I Know When I've Reached That Point As Logically As I Can That It's Finished. As For The Rewriting-it's Not Foolproof, Of Course, But If You're Honest About Having Thought Of Every Possibility And You Still Come Back To What You Have, What More Can You Do?

It Was Like That Class At School Where The Teacher Talks About Realization, About How You Could Realize Something Big In A Commonplace Thing. The Example He Gave--and The Liar Said It Really Happened--was That Once While Drinking Orange Juice, He'd Realized He Would Be Dead Someday. He Wondered If We, His Students, Had Had Similar 'realizations.' Is He Kidding? I Thought. Once I Cashed A Paycheck And I Realized It Wasn't Enough. Once I Had Food Poisoning, And Realized I Was Trapped Inside My Body.

And I See That Not Touching For So Long Was A Drive To The Beach With The Windows Rolled Up So The Waves Feel That Much Colder.

I Think You Would Like Warren. He Drinks Courvoisier In A Coke Can, And Has A Laugh Like You'd Find In A Cartoon Bubble.

All Those Years On The Psychiatrist's Couch And Suddenly The Couch Is Moving. Good God, She Is On That Couch When The Big One Hits. Maidy Didn't Tell You, But You Know What Her Doctor Said? She Sprang From The Couch And Said, "my God, Was That An Earthquake?" The Doctor Said This: "did It Feel Like An Earthquake To You?