Week 31, 2026: Plus one
Citrus orange nails and toenails for grandmother’s birthday week. We are bound by the sour and bitter. She asked if I was praying now and when I said yes, my mother gave me a look. Years ago, when I’d say yes, my mother would ask me to point out the direction of Mecca. That nearly always caught me. Even if I guessed right, I couldn’t help smiling. I can be good, I just have to do it in my own way. Take the formula and modernize it. Thank you for inventing the formula so I could run with it but I’ve gotta run now.
I was holding a Sobeys bag full of dirty laundry in the basement when a girl I’d never met before told me she was my neighbour now. She moved into the flat below me with her partner since her brother, the primary tenant, was never home. I watched her fold an all-white load and wondered if I’d ever be the kind of girl that separates her colours. She feels so out of reach. Her partner and dog stopped by and I said hello to both of them. In a warm voice, I said something cold but true, colder and truer than I’d intended. It’s nice to put a face to the noise. Her face crinkled and I sobered up, kneeling down and adding in a high-pitched voice, and what a cutie.
The big headline is that I have the flat to myself for a few weeks. How has it grown in size already? I feel inspired to cook and write and dance. I feel like I can do anything. I feel like a Doechii song.
I’ve been spending a lot of time sprawled out on the couch and thinking about resolutions. So much phone-scrolling time, too. I love scrolling on my phone. I kept missing my stop on the subway after hanging out with Jemima because I was looking at Coach bags. We drank NA lagers before going to watch a rock cover band. The guy at the front asked for her name and then mine. My name is Plus One, I said. He laughed and let us in. It was loud so we sat outside and gossiped and waited for the guitarist’s girlfriend to meet us. She was wearing his merch, which she’d designed herself, and looked so excitable. She really pulls off that eyebrow piercing.
This weekend is a long one. I went to the mall and spent some more money. Whenever I spend money on stuff that makes me look pretty, I feel stupid and spent. And whenever I have long phone-calls, I feel bare and spent. I can be good but I need to do it my way and that will take some time. Anouk came over for the perfect hang-out: stand-up and pizza. Galaxy Brain and a margarita. Homemade dough balls and sugar-free ginger ale. Secrets and chocolate. Gossip and trickery.
I told her that I think she'd enjoy watching The Ballad of Wallis Island and reading The Bloater. Maybe you would too, if you like a bit of British humour. Or maybe you will enjoy them and then you will learn something new about yourself: that you like a bit of British humour. That would be a much more fun order of events.
It's so late over here! I should get some sleep.