Sunday, May 12, 2013

Almost one year later.


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?