I won’t pretend to know what the shark is thinking. I just know it can’t keep its eye off me. I am full of vague memories and lost smells. I visit places I will never again exist. I touch metal leaves and the dog goes crazy.

I won’t pretend to know what the shark is thinking. I just know it can’t keep its eye off me. I am full of vague memories and lost smells. I visit places I will never again exist. I touch metal leaves and the dog goes crazy.

Yes, it’s true: I do things the hard way. I have no other choice! When I want a cup of coffee, I get up and make it. Sometimes I grind the beans and other times I use pre-ground ones that I’ve traded for. Either way, they end up in my coffeemaker. What’s that? Oh, it’s a little device I made—it’s not magical, it just saves a little time. Yes, while I do things the hard way, I sometimes think of workarounds and shortcuts. Things to make life a little less labor-intensive.

Wendy Wixom tore her underwear to shreds. She had a sense memory of doing this as a child to her Wonder Woman underoos, though that had been an accident. Sometimes it felt like most of her childhood had been an accident, so she tried to be as deliberate as possible as an adult.

The old castle up on the hill? I don’t know much about it, I’ve never been inside. Did I say castle? I meant house. Yeah, the old house up on the hill, that’s it. I don’t think you need to worry about that place. Nobody’s trapped inside the walls. There are no children in there trying to solve any mysteries. I don’t think anyone’s lived in that castle for a long time. House, I mean.

My reasons for making the jump were the usual ones: body failure and a lot of pain. To be spry and vital and strong and sharp again—a do-over. It wasn’t that I was filled with regrets. I’d learned a lot during my first go-round and was eager to apply that knowledge and wisdom to the next life.

The same inert sandwich sat uneaten on a paper plate on the dining room table. How many hours had it been there? None of us ever actually dine in dining room, so it’s almost unnerving to see food in that space.