propinquity
raze
it's
the
strangest
placemat
the
man
shows
me
.
just
some
words
on
a
piece
of
paper
dyed
dark
enough
to
pass
for
something
meant
to
mop
up
the
remnants
of
a
meal
.
this
passage
was
hidden
at
the
end
of
a
film
,
he
explains.
an
end_credits
easter
egg
extracted
and
hatched
here
in
front
of
me
.
i
share
it
with
a
fair
-weather
friend
who's
as
moved
as
i
am
.
she
has
memories
of
me
that
shouldn't
be
hers
.
moments
she
wasn't
alive
to
mark
on
her
mind
. gatherings
i
was
privy
to
as
an
uncomprehending
child
.
she
knows
the
names
of
people
she's
never
heard
of
.
she
doesn't
understand
it
herself
.
maybe
the
ghosts
of
all
my
dead
relatives
are
holding
hands
and
taking
turns
whispering
in
her
ear
.
telling
her
what
to
tell
me
.
she
asks
about
the
river
of
shit
i
had
to
wade
through
before
i
left
my
mother's
house
.
"
i
should
be
over
all
of
this
,"
i
say
. "
it
happened
a
long
time
ago
."
"
you
don't
ever
get
over
trauma
,"
she
says
. "
you
just
get
through
it
."
and
somewhere
there's
the
smiling
apparition
of
an
actor
who's
heard
these
lines
before
,
though
never
delivered
with
quite
so
much
conviction
.
250718
what's it to you?
who
go
blather
from