57 everyday things, re-seen by a lingering ghost.
She is opening the little folded clothes one by one, and the whole room makes the same sound each time, that soft collapsing "ohhh," and I could stay…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThe whole warehouse is a single heartbeat, and every one of them is inside it.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe almost has it, the last one, her fingers closing over the box the same instant another woman's do, and for a moment the two of them just stand…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe burned the rolls again, and the whole house filled with that dark toasted smell that means someone opened a window and laughed and blamed someone else.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost KitchenShe has held that mug so long the coffee inside has gone cold, and she has not noticed, because she is only holding it to have something warm in her…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe checks the expiration dates again, the way she does every Sunday, turning each can a quarter-turn so the labels all face the same direction on the…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost HomeShe lets it ring twice before she goes, and both times my whole self leans toward the door with her, wanting to be the one who answers.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe hides the trembling in her hands by wrapping them around the water glass, and she doesn't know that the cold of it, the wet ring it leaves on the…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe keeps checking her phone under the pew, and I want to tell her: yes.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe apologizes to the coat check girl for how much fur is on the tail, and I want to tell her the coat check girl has seen everything, but of course I…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe holds on too long, and he lets her, and neither of them knows how rich they are.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe burns the first pancake every single time, and every single time she frowns at it like a betrayal, then eats it herself standing at the counter so…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThey are all pretending to hate this, and I could kiss every one of them for it.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThey come in flocks this month, more of them than the machines can hold, and I love the crowding of it.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe stands sideways to the glass, lifts the little bright rectangle, and does not see herself at all.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThey have paid money to be afraid in the house where I once simply lived.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe has been folding and unfolding the same paper cup for an hour, and she does not know she is lucky to have hands that fidget.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThe music died an hour ago and only the stragglers are left, six of them draped across the couch like coats nobody claimed, passing one warm beer in a…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost HomeShe has been fighting with the same fern for three years, and she thinks she is losing.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe is early, so she sits in the lobby chair and does the thing they all do: rehearses under her breath, folds and unfolds the printed pages, presses…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost HomeShe waits until the third day to fold it, and I do not blame her, because folding was always the surrender.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost KitchenShe stands in front of it at 11pm, one hip against the counter, waiting out the last thirty seconds of a bowl of soup she has reheated twice already,…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe has been standing against the gymnasium wall for forty minutes now, this girl in the green dress, one sneaker turned inward, arms crossed like she…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost HomeShe has stood at this same spot every morning for years, and she has never once looked at herself the way I look at her now.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThey are throwing themselves at each other on purpose, and it is the most tender thing I have seen in weeks.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe has been standing in the same patch of trampled grass for three hours to see a band that has not come on yet, and she keeps sighing about her feet.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldSix of them, packed into a corridor that smells of hairspray and spilled sugar, and every single one is annoyed.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost On youHe never sits to put them on anymore.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe sits on the cold slats without noticing they are cold, and I would give anything to be that ungrateful.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe hunts for a space the way I used to, that little lean forward over the wheel, eyes flicking, and I want to tell her it doesn't matter, take any of…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost KitchenShe opens it for no reason at all, the way you check a window for weather.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe hits it too fast again, the way she always does, shoulder down, coffee held out level like a torch, and the door catches her rhythm and gives it…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThey have come to the round table with their fingertips barely touching, palms warm, and they are asking for me.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe scans the same bag of oranges three times because the machine won't believe her, and I would give anything to be that annoyed.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost On youShe hunts them again, hand slapping the bowl by the door, the couch cushions, the coat she wore yesterday, muttering, running late, always running late.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost On youShe holds the whole day in her hand and reads it like a grocery list, because that is all it is to her.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost HomeShe stands under the water with her eyes closed and her mouth open, complaining that it is too hot, and I would give anything to be scalded.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThey are all dancing to nothing.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe is furious at a bicycle that goes nowhere, and I could kiss her for it.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe is talking to no one and everyone at once, and her whole face is lit up by it.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe curses the brake lights, all of them, this whole red river of stopped cars, and I want to press my hand to her cheek and tell her: stay.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost KitchenShe stands in front of the glass for a full minute, deciding, and I would give anything to have a decision that small again.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe keeps the message but she will not play it.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe is standing on his feet.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe has been muted for six minutes and she does not know how free she is.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe has driven three hours to a place with no doors on the bathrooms and lentils for every meal, so that she may learn, from a stranger, how to breathe.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThe floors have just been mopped and no one is looking at them, that clean gray shine going to waste under a thousand rolling suitcases.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost HomeShe hates it.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe holds the button down with one knuckle, three times, four, as if the box will hurry for the insulting.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost On youShe fights the wind at the front door, and I want to tell her: let it lose.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe lies on top of the blankets she did not bother to pull up, one leg out for the cool she doesn't know she loves.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe has been holding the phone for nine minutes, and the little bubble of light shows a message someone sent and she has read and not answered, and…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe has been holding him for two hours and her arm has gone numb, and she keeps flexing her fingers under his weight, wincing, shifting him an inch,…
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThey are peeling the room down to its bones, and they do not know how loud the walls are with it all.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe holds the carrier on her lap the whole time, though the plastic corners must dig into her thighs, though there are perfectly good chairs beside her.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldThe boxes are still taped shut and she is eating cold noodles off a paper towel on the floor, and I want to tell her this is one of the good ones.
Read observation → The Lingering Ghost Out in the worldShe keeps checking the clock like it will do something different this time.
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