Chapter 78
Had the Ponytailed Cop been able to continue his interrogation of the Saint, he might have gotten to the truth. We’ll never know, for the Town’s First Selectman came to the police station and wanted to see him immediately. He was the boss and, being the single uniformed officer of the Kenilworth Police force, the Ponytailed Cop had to talk to him.
“I hear you have a suspect in custody for the murder of that girl,” said the First Selectman. He was the kind of man you might select in the morning but have second thoughts by early afternoon. He…
The Road to Reconciliation
How to tell when you’re an adult
At some point, someone has told you, or maybe you just thought it: You’re just being a big baby. Let’s take a look and see if that’s really the case.
Be suspicious whenever anyone uses the word just. No one is ever just one thing. But, even if we get rid of that word, we’re still left with the question. Are you being a big baby?
You’re a big baby when your birth certificate documents you’re an adult, but you’re not acting like one. Five-foot-six, but it’s like your legs can barely reach the floor. You vote, drive, smoke cigarettes…
Chapter 77
Kenilworth’s Resident Saint, now a prisoner in Kenilworth’s jail, was, and always has been, guilty.
She may have not been guilty of the crime for which she was held, the murder of the Lisping Barista and the dismemberment and attempted disposal of her body; but she was guilty, nonetheless. Guilty for what she had done and left undone. Slow to learn and prone to forget. Oblivious to harm and unconscious of hate.
“Oh, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee…” she cried into the linoleum as she stretched prostrate on the dirty floor.
There was, of course…
Chapter 76
From the very beginning, Dear Reader, you were warned that the Lisping Barista would end up dead and dismembered. Well, that moment has arrived, and it didn’t take long before the manner and timing of her death was discussed over coffee in extreme, lurid detail at the Epiphany Cafe. You were also informed that the town’s Resident Saint would be arrested for the crime. She was currently sitting in the town jail, the Ponytailed Cop’s only suspect. How did the finest, most loving, generous, and altogether most holy person for miles around get implicated for such a heinous crime?
The…
The Reflective Eclectic
Just how common are mental health problems? According to researchers following more than a thousand New Zealanders for 35 years, they’re extremely common. By age 38, they say, 83% have had a diagnosable mental health condition at some point in their lives; in most cases, a mild depression, anxiety, or a substance use disorder.
Also, they found that mental health was not associated with wealth, physical health or intelligence. They discovered certain temperamental aspects from childhood such as being more social, less emotionally reactive, and having higher levels of self-control can predict enduring mental health. …
Chapter 75
It looked like an ordinary night when the Crazy Dog Lady let her dogs out. You will recall, Dear Reader, that she regarded dogs as nobler than humans, so she had no need for a fenced yard, long chains, or to supervise them doing their business. Their quick survey found all the squirrels aloft, the rabbits gone to ground, and the bird feeder out of seed. The trash can that had been tipped earlier that day had its cover fitted tightly and taken back in. The Stupid Cat watched them from her window next door, her tail twitching in futile…
The Reflective Eclectic
Especially when trying to bring about change.
My father was a car mechanic. When I was a kid, he tried to teach me all about cars, but I wasn’t very interested. After a while, he might have thought he was wasting his time, but one of his lessons stuck with me. I think about it every day.
“Don’t force it,” he often said.
He was troubled by the way I was so hell bent on getting those bolts loosened that I would stand on the wrench, extend it with a pipe, or perform any number of crazy stunts to get it to turn. A couple times, I…
Chapter 74
I’d never seen such a beautiful day for a walk in the woods. A moderate breeze caused the trees to sway, as if they had something to dance to, and shake their leaves, as if rattling soft tambourines. What was the music that caused the trees to move so happily? It wasn’t the wind, for wind can uproot them and strip their clothes from their limbs. It wasn’t the birds, although the birds sang sweetly in their branches. It wasn’t even the sun, granted the sun possessed everything to which trees aspire. …
A Field Guide to Feelings
The fascinating and appalling state called abjection
There’s a psychological mechanism that isn’t very well known, yet it’s involved behind the scenes in many emotions. It plays a part in disgust, revulsion, repugnance, aversion, distaste, nausea, abhorrence, loathing, detestation, horror, contempt, weird, outrage, terror, fear, fright, panic, dread, trepidation, hatred, hate, abomination, execration, odium, antipathy, dislike, hostility, animosity, ill feeling, bad feeling, malice, animus, enmity, aversion, shame, humiliation, mortification, chagrin, ignominy, embarrassment, indignity, discomfort and repugnance, among others. Really, just about any negative emotion has this mechanism involved.
What is this mysterious power behind the curtain of so many intense, uncomfortable emotions? It’s called abjection. Abjection is…
Chapter 73
The Leatherman was highly agitated by the disturbance in his routine, but you wouldn’t know it to look at him; for, just as his body was covered by leather pants, leather boots, leather shirt, leather gloves, leather hat, and a long, patched leather jacket, his face was obscured by stoicism and grime. He was not generally one to share his feelings, but you knew he had to have them; for, why else would he do what he’s done?
The deed I’m talking about is the single, billion-step, accomplishment of his life: the unending, invariable thirty-five-day circuit through small towns of…
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