Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

“The truth is complicated. There’s no way one person can ever know everything about another person.”

It was pouring buckets

She’s my dog,” I said. “You hold the ladder.”

“Absolutely not, Bala. It’s too dangerous.”

From: Audrey Griffin

To: Soo-Lin Lee-Segal

Don’t think I can’t take a hint. How about I get in my car and deliver you a plate myself?

*

From: Soo-Lin Lee-Segal

To: Audrey Griffin

How about you don’t? Thanks, though!

You’ll see on Bee’s passport that her given name is Balakrishna Branch. (Let’s just say I was

Do you know how absolutely exotic it is that you haven’t been corrupted by fashion and pop culture? A month ago I mentioned Ben Stiller, and do you remember how you responded? “Who’s that?” I loved you all over again.

I’d say I never considered myself a great architect. I’m more of a creative problem solver with good taste and a soft spot for logistical nightmares.

My heart started racing, not the bad kind of heart racing, like, I’m going to die. But the good kind of heart racing, like, Hello, can I help you with something? If not, please step aside because I’m about to kick the shit out of life.

The South Pole is on a shifting ice sheet. Every year they have to relocate the official Pole marker because it can move one hundred feet! Would this mean my building would have to be a wind-powered crab-walking igloo? Maybe. I’m not worried about it. That’s what ingenuity and insomnia are for.

Every single iceberg filled me with feelings of sadness and wonder. Not thoughts of sadness and wonder, mind you, because thoughts require a thinker, and my head was a balloon, incapable of thoughts. I didn’t think about Dad, I didn’t think about you, and, the big one, I didn’t think about myself. The effect was like heroin (I think), and I wanted to stretch it out as long as possible.