from, "The Attic"

"It's like floating on a river, isn't it? You could be anywhere in the world under this skylight, looking up at those stars and the wind whipping those trees around. Makes you feel sort of minuscule."

"How is that a good thing? Feeling minuscule, that is?"

"Puts everything in perspective I suppose. Thanks for covering for me earlier. Do you think they're trying to call Rob to confirm? Well, I know Simon is. He probably couldn't run to his phone fast enough."

"In those puppy slippers? Nah, he could barely walk in those things. He gave you a death stare. Did you guys have a thing?"

"Oh, I wouldn't even call it a thing. Do you have time for an anecdote?"

"Got all night."

"One day my brother threw away his Stretch Armstrong doll. He wanted a new toy, and to get a new toy we had to learn to part with our old ones. I really liked Stretch, so I took him. A few days later my brother saw me playing with him and he had a fit."

"I thought he didn't want it anymore."

"He didn't . . . but he didn't want anyone else to have it either. There are just some things people never grow out of."

"So Simon is your brother and you're Stretch? Right?"

"Yeah . . . but sometimes . . . sometimes I feel like I'm the rest of the trash Stretch got thrown into, too. I feel like some sort of waste receptor for the shit other people don't want to deal with and if I get any pleasure out of it I feel like everyone is Simon. No one wants me to really be happy with what I'm doing, even if it's dealing with their shit."