Drinker of Ink

by Shannon Castleton

“It is terrifying to be a parent. To choose to behave one way with your child, and then watch what comes of it. It is like planting a garden with aster and dynamite, but you never know which, and either sprouts up at the oddest times to remind you of what you did well or poorly.”

Finally, I said, “You probably feel homeless because you were born in California.” I could tell his lips over my head were grinning. “You really dislike California.”