Made for Love

by Alissa Nutting

We pretend when we want to forget things are dangerous,

IN OUR SOCIETY SOME OF YOU ARE FAR SAFER AND MORE ADVANTAGED THAN OTHERS; AT HOME SOME OF YOU ARE FAR MORE LOVED; SOME OF YOU WILL FIND THAT CONCEPTS LIKE FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE WILL BE THIN, FLICKERING HOLOGRAMS ON THE PERIPHERY OF YOUR LIVES. OH, LOOK, CHILDREN—I SEE MR. LAWRENCE IN THE DISTANCE DRAGGING A PORTION OF A HIGHWAY-SLAUGHTERED DEER. LET’S GO HELP HIM LUG IT INSIDE AND BE REMINDED THAT WE TOO INHABIT BODIES MADE OF MEAT-WRAPPED BONES; LET’S MEDITATE ON THIS CORPOREAL TERROR.

THE DAY AFTER INTERVIEWING BYRON, HAZEL WOKE TO HER PHONE ringing. This was a surprise since it had been shut off for nonpayment for over three weeks. Who calls on a dead phone, besides a dead person/ghost or a spiritual higher power, and which possibility was more frightening?

“Where I live is where the deceased go to cool down to the afterlife’s new room temperature.”

“Everyone knows everything all the time.”