Fallout (Crank 3)

Girls! I need some help. Hurry!

There is some sort of a muffled crash.

The tension in the room, god-awful

heavy just two seconds ago, falls

away, like shedding a heavy robe.

Eliana and Rosa rush out the door.

I start to follow and suddenly Simone

transmutes, phantom into flesh. Wait.

I can’t tell you, she whispers. Ever.

She is human after all. Real. As real

as the fear alive in her eyes.

I nod my head. “I know.” I know

because I never told either. Her

story is mine, only with a different “he.”

I understand as only someone who

has been there can understand. We

have something in common after all.

APPARENTLY I MADE TANYA FEEL GUILTY

Because by the time

Simone and I

reach the living room,

she and the girls are

elbow deep in red and

green and gold.

Rosa’s eyes are wide.

Ooh. Look. Can

I hang this pretty one?

Lights first, commands Walter,

untangling a long

strand. Then ornaments.