Second First Impressions

by Sally Thorne

So that’s what it feels like to be visible for a few long moments. Like touching a live wire.

This is why young men have always infuriated me. They stopgap their inadequacies with competent young women.”

Anything I can do with complete competence, a young man can do with less technical ability but more fanfare.

All I know is, nothing in life feels that bad when I’m eating carbs and fat. Everything will work out, because of cheese.

“You’re the thousand-dollar dress on the rack in this thrift store and I can’t believe no one’s picked you up yet.”

“Seems like a lot of people have been telling you what you’re like. It’s time to decide if you believe them.”

Have you ever been caught off guard by the sound of your own heartbeat? Maybe you’ve pressed your ear weirdly on your pillow, and now all you can hear is your own proof of life. You are confronted with your mortality in a base, clock-ticking kind of way: you have an engine room, and it has a finite timeline. What a miracle and a privilege.