My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered.

My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered.

Well, as my dad would say, it means she’s out of this shithole.

There was our father, the heart we knew held all of us. Held us heavily and desperately, the doors of his heart opening and closing with the rapidity of stops on an instrument, the quiet felt closures, the ghostly fingering, practice and practice and then, incredibly, sound and melody and warmth.

I was trying to prove to them and to myself that I was still who I had always been. I was beautiful, if fat. I was smart, if loud. I was good, if ruined.

Your first kiss is destiny knocking.

As she brought prospective buyers through, the realtor said it was an oil stain, but it was me, seeping out of the bag.