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Kimberly Warner's avatar

Holy hell Jonathan. This one punched me in the gut. Right out of the gates, so much energy and connection only to realize its boozy source. And your uncertainty of whether you should be present to it, or become ghost, as if it can’t harm, but then, of course you smack me with the truth of invisibility, one I know all too well myself:

“Hovering away like a ghost. It felt safer that way. But it isn’t actually safer because people without weight eventually just float away.”

And then, like a cinematographer, you zoom out so we can see the town mirroring your mother’s plight on a socio-economic scale, how keeping up appearances is exhausting futility because the world doesn’t want to open up the box, doesn’t want to know the truth.

I could go on. I will return to this piece and undoubtedly discover new layers and meaning each time.

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Alia Parker's avatar

An enthralling read, Jonathan. I could see it all so clearly. Families, hey. I remember arguing with my mum about something or other when I was young, taking a dig at our dysfunction, and swinging the subject to how wonderful my friend's parents were, all the cool stuff they did for their kids, and what a happy family they were. Mum paused and looked me straight in the eye and said 'Well, that's not normal. There's something wrong there'. Oh how she gloated when my friend's parents separated a few months later!

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