The Broken Ones

by Sarah A. Denzil

We want to give the children the best education we can, but the restrictions force us into becoming clones of each other, delivering clone messages to mini-clones.

She told me one day when she was particularly exhausted that there is no magic way of dealing without sleep. Our bodies need it. Sure, we can run on fumes, caffeine, and sheer force of will for a while, but it changes us. We become snappy and argumentative to those we love. But it makes you prioritise everything in life. It gets rid of the bullshit.

There are times to correct people and times to be quiet. This is one of those times where silence is the best option.

The problem with finding that the world is imploding around you, and that your life has turned into a series of problems, is that there comes a time when the people around you are sick of hearing about it but are too polite to tell you they’re sick of it. You’re the bore who makes their day a little less sunny. You’re a negative influence in their lives and there’s nothing you can do about it, unless you want to keep your mouth shut and not say anything. No one wants to be the bore. When you’re not it, you avoid the bore like the plague. Then, one day, it comes around and it’s you and you’re alone.

She was plain old mad at me for getting her tea wrong. That woman was a cruel, stone-hearted bitch long before the Alzheimer’s.”