I imagined days where nobody else existed. I imagined a me who could pace and talk to herself without being reprimanded. I imagined a world where my rules were followed, where everyone awoke at 5:31 EST, separated their Berry Berry Kix by color, left for school at 8:14, and arrived in the classroom at 8:32, eight minutes before first bell. I imagined floating across the Antarctic tundra near Roald Amundsen’s flag, flitting through space with my fellow neutrinos, particles fueled by an unforgiving sun. I imagined my sister dying in a freak pencil-stabbing accident. I imagined inheriting her stuffed animals. I am married. I can only eat cordon bleu or sloppy joe when it is mixed with equal parts rice. Wheat does not make me vomit. I do not know the product of 5,601 and 42,896. I forget how to subtract. I do not know what day of the week Mozart was born, how many children Thomas Edison had, or the cost-effectiveness of deep-fat fryers. I do not know the words to every Walt Whitman poem. I cannot predict the future. |