black_dog tender_square her dream ego was driving her and her younger sister home, to their parents’ house. when they reached a stop sign and she braked, a car behind her honked for taking too long and she was momentarily annoyed by their impatience. as they parked and got out of the car, one of their elder sisters confronted them, along with a childhood friend neither one of them really spoke to anymore. the two women asked a barrage of rapid-fire questions. they wanted to know where they’d been and what they had been up to. her dream ego wouldn’t cop to shit with either one of them. in the front yard, two dogs ran loose, one of which was a large black beast. her dream ego brought the dogs inside the house and put up a child’s gate at the threshold to keep them from getting free. she paid special attention to the black dog, rubbing her hand against its snout, offering affection and apologizing that they had to be restrained when she preferred the animal roam free. her older sister and her old friend saw it fit to tell her what they saw as going on in her marriage and how she needed to get a handle on it. her dream ego replied that it was none of their damn business. “just because people don’t move on your timeline, doesn’t mean that they’re disasters,” she said. “you have to let people do things in their own way.” her friend scoffed. “no way,” her dream ego asserted. “now is not the time.” she wondered if her friend’s adamance was related to that fact that her ex-husband had been unfaithful to her, that she was now advocating for how her husband would feel, given they shared the same experience. her older sister said she was being obvious about her infidelity. “how?” “the cookies,” the sister replied. “the messaging. i saw the way you smiled when you were writing to him.” she thought it rich that her sister should tell her how to manage her marriage when she had cheated on her common-law partner. both the old friend and the older sister asked about the ceremony in her future. “there will be no ceremony.” both women were shocked. and her dream ego saw a vision of an inverted pine tree, the most ancient species, floating nearby. she and the man she loved would share internalized ritual; they would share growth and unknown opportunities; they would share love and regeneration. “just because i won’t be having a ceremony, doesn’t mean that what’s between he and i isn’t as integral to my life as it has been.” “you have to tell your husband what’s going on,” they said. her dream ego was firm about this. “no. i don’t. and you won’t either.” 220211 what's it to you? who go blather from