I lit out at sixteen. By thirty I realized getting out then was what saved me from repeating the dismal life path I’d witnessed with my grandparents, parents, and now siblings. The mixture of Irish blood from my mother’s side and German blood from my father’s side, which combo I shared with only one of…
Tag: #The Unicorn Challenge
The Unicorn Challenge — Careful
© Doug Jacquier Marcia continued rubbing her right buttock while waiting for the receipt and to make a follow-up appointment with the receptionist at the clinic. Her chart, under a pseudonym, was growing. She was too embarrassed to seek out testing and treatment from Dr. Bane, her and her husband, Charles’, primary care physician. Instead,…
The Unicorn Challenge — Trained Unicorn
© Ayr/Gray The promise of spectacle is what draws them. The posters, facebook marketing banners, and online local newspaper ads say it is a trained unicorn. The price per ticket is outrageously expensive, but who can resist? When Youtube provides every form of titillation to be voyeuristically ingested through eyes held captive in the dull…
The Unicorn Challenge 072123 — Biblical
© Ayr/Gray Barksley refused to believe his unnatural proclivities were his fault. Having been sent away to Saint Percival Boarding School at age nine, he was predated upon in every fashion by everyone who was stronger than he was, and everyone was stronger. Nuns rapped his knuckles with the metal edges of rulers for not…
The Unicorn Challenge — Better
© Ayr/Gray “Gertrude,” was the answer Farmer Johnson gave when asked who his prize goose was. When the man from Monsanto came to call one bright April morning, he led with his card and a tip of his new Stetson hat. The fact that the hat was new should have been a red flag to…
The Unicorn Challenge 0616 — They Feel What We Feel!
© Ayr/Gray Straightjacket buckled and secured, two orderlies lead Harold to the ambulance. “I’m telling the truth! Why won’t you listen! They feel what we feel!” Harold’s mother stands at the top of the porch, her arms crossed, grim downturned mouth, and a deep furrow of worry at her brow. “Please fix my boy,” she…
Tao Talk 