Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance

by Ruth Emmie Lang

Some of my other hobbies included running with sharp objects, lighting fires, and lighting sharp objects on fire and launching them into the sky with my slingshot.

I could tell, even before he spoke, that he had drained his mind of his own sadness and replaced it with empathy for mine.

“This is where I come when I’m sad … or happy. It’s where I come to feel is what I mean.” I was still trying to regain feeling in my face.

Her flaws were in plain sight, not buffed out with salt scrubs or hidden under layers of Mary Kay.

I’ve sometimes wondered if he ignored her because she acted out or if maybe she acted out because she was ignored.

“Because without beauty, we’d be bored.

I had the urge to White Fang him—shout, Go on! Get outta here! as I threw bar nuts at his back—so he could go be with his “own kind.”

“Don’t leave anything you can’t come back to.” I know I can come back here and I will be welcomed, and that brings me more comfort than anything else in this world. Your favorite brother,