Ramona Blue

by Julie Murphy

Sometimes catastrophes split you in half, and even if all the pieces are there, they might not ever fit back together.

As I introduce her and Freddie, I can hear words coming out of my mouth, but my whole body feels like it’s lit up in bright neon and buzzing with electricity like one of those beer signs.

And it doesn’t matter how much either of us wants to make it work. We have to be wanted back, because this shit is a two-way street.

I feel like I’ve swallowed a magic seed, causing flowers to sprout up in my belly, and now they’re swelling against my rib cage.

It seems to me that childhood ends and adult life begins the moment you stop believing your parents can rescue you.

“I thought I’d found it. I don’t even know if we were in love, but we were happy, and . . . and happy is more than my parents ever had, if what they had was anything at all. It’s sad that sometimes we let ourselves believe that if it’s not bad, it must be good.”

Everyone should dance in the middle of a beautiful square with a freckled person they love.

Life is a series of conflicts, and maybe the only resolution is accepting that not all problems are meant to be solved.

And the rest? It’s unknown. A great and beautiful question mark. JUNE