To Be Decided
“I want to tell you this story without having to confess anything. I want to tell you this story without having to be in it.” - Richard Siken, "The Torn-Up Road" from Crush To Be Decided You are in a room. It is a hotel room, it is plain, it is not the nicest place you have ever stayed at. The walls are powder blue and something about the two full length mirrors set on opposite corners of the room provokes discombobulation; you are too thin in one and too wide in the other. But you have the wrong idea right now. This is not a funhouse motel room to make your hairs stand on end; it is a beautiful room, really. Let me give you more. There is a generous balcony attached to the leftmost wall, accessed by sliding glass doors that have been tugged all the way open. There is a girl standing, leaning on the railing, and you can see her through the sheerest layer of curtains left halfdrawn by the rooms’ inhabitants. She is curlyhaired, maybe, tapping out ash on a seltzer can, maybe...