I’m back because I need a forum. Even
if nobody reads it.
It comes out over sushi that I’d been mulling over a “solo
jaunt,” “next weekend,” “the mountains.” My mother puts down her chopsticks in
a single decisive click.
“No.”
“I’m going to sleep in the back of my car.”
She presses the chopsticks into the table. “No.”
She tells me a story about her coworker, who was camping
with his family. A man with a machete came out of the forest, threatened to
chopthemup! Conclusion: “Anything can happen, Emily.”
How can I live my life if I’m consistently on guard for men
with machetes? If I were male, would this be different?
