last chance

We go to Mattoon, where I exchange the rather boxy taupe suit for a much sleeker black one. We stuff ourselves at QQ, a Chinese buffet. I hang out with Margaret, my mom’s best friend. She and her husband and daughter moved next door to us from Scotland when I was nine, and she’s been my second mother ever since. I dare you to figure out what the hell she’s saying when she’s talking the way she actually talks. (I understand it.)

While I’m repacking, my parents watch the Velvet Rut documentary and my part of the Mass Murder video. My dad says “Good job, sissy” and my mom says “Well, you made me feel sick to my stomach. I suppose that means you did a good job.”