December 18th December 18, 2009

After the show we wander around downtown letting the night slip by and the streets quiet down.
We end up at the big Christmas tree in front of the gallery, shimmering blue: a single colour lights up the evergreen.
“What do you think?” I ask.
“Lazy.”
With only two homeless guys on the gallery steps in [...]

December 17th December 17, 2009

“What is this?” Klink asks.
We’ve entered a room at the library filled with grey-haired women and balding men. It’s a sing-a-long: Carolling Through the Ages.
I explain this to Klink.
“You’re so old.”
But as the evening rolls on and we join our senior compatriots in song, I catch a smile stealing across Klink’s face and nudge her. [...]

December 16th December 16, 2009

(To read this story from the beginning, click here.)
We cover a lot of ground, passing through thrifty book stores, picking up groceries, and sifting through supplies at an art market.
Her naiveté (a rare gift) is crucial to my purposes, so, when I’m not sedating her with steamed milk at coffee shops, I keep her distracted [...]

December 15th December 15, 2009

(To read this story from the beginning, click here.)
Over the years, as Klink has established her Christmas presence and begun to read my mannerisms and emotions, I’ve been able to counter her know-it-all conscience with my own pervasive knowledge of her.
I can read her like a book, and this year I mean to use this [...]

December 14th December 14, 2009

(To read this story from the beginning, click here.)
Back at home, I wake to find three dead mice at the foot of my bed. Across the room, tucked inside my bookshelf, Klink is nestled between Atwood and Eggers.
“You serious?”
“What? It’s in my nature.”
I rise in the morning chill and scoop up her captors in a [...]