The man on the bench finished the edge of the last beak, touched up the shadow on a nape, and put down his pencil. The boy who was watching him slid closer and leaned in. The man tucked his pencil into a coat pocket. The coat had frayed cuffs. The hand had three fingers and one thumb. The boy nodded approval, and the man took a deep breath. [Read more…] about The Book of Worlds
totems
Cleopatra, Scheherazade, & the Deerchild
When Susan was seven, they were only nubs. Her mother, Marge, took her to the pediatrician. He performed a biopsy. He sent her to a specialist. The specialist deemed the growth benign, though unusual, and recommended monitoring and periodic tests. Marge took her to more specialists. They did every kind of blood work and scan in their arsenal, and tried some new ones. Two projections of keratin and proteins that were not cutaneous was the first assessment. It was like saying to someone with flu symptoms, “your nose is running, and you seem to have a cough.” [Read more…] about Cleopatra, Scheherazade, & the Deerchild