Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

by Rivka Galchen

“The voting is silly,” I said. “You can’t discover what’s true based on how many people think it’s true.”

I’ve lived so many years, Simon. Maybe you understand this feeling. Being alive at my age is like being woken from a grave and walking the earth to see the alien world of my descendants.

I tried to reassure him that the number of people in town interested in reading elaborate books in Latin about stars or whatnot was limited. But also I let him rave. I am not completely unaware of basic human needs.