WEBVTT - Halloween Fiction Special: It Bleeds, It Burrows, It Breaks the Bone 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:03.360 Hello, and welcome to Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff? 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:08.000 Your podcast or what um feels like the End Times. No, 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:13.200 that's a different podcast. Well, welcome to Cool People Who 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.040 Did Cool Stuff. I'm your host, Margaret Killjoy, and every 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.320 week I bring you a story about cool people in history. 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:23.240 Except today. Sophie. Did you know that today is the 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:27.520 extra special Halloween Fiction Special? Um? I did because I 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:34.239 asked you to do it right. This we Today's episode 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:36.960 is so special. It's a special twice, the extra special 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.839 Halloween Fiction Special. It is definitely not a filler episode 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:45.199 because we ran a three parter, but but it is 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:50.840 special special, that's what you're saying. Yes, it's extra special cool. 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.920 And today I have an extra special guest, So if 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.520 you do you want a guest who guests guests? Who 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:58.880 it is? I kind of kind of blue that one. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.160 This is a filler episode. I'm pretty sure it's sucking me. 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.640 Today we have the Webby Award winning Sophie lift Him 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.280 and On as our guest. Sophie, how are you doing? 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.720 You really love to introduce me like that. It's so funny. 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.520 I'm doing well. It's Halloween. Anderson looks great in her 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.039 Halloween costumes. I have a bunch of candy that probably 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:26.880 no kids are going to take, but I will leave 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:31.640 it out for them. Anyways, How are you, Margaret, I'm good. 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.720 It has just occurred to me that there is a small, 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.080 a close to zero but non zero chance that some 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.640 neighborhood kid it's going to walk up the long gravel 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.600 driveway to my house. I hope that doesn't happen. I mean, 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.560 I mean, you'll know because we're in troub will inform 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.960 you and then you can just hide. Oh that's a 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.240 good point. Yeah, that's a good point. Or I'll give 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.440 them like a can of soup, I mean, honestly dried, 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:04.720 the weirdest thing kids have probably gotten on Halloween ammunition. 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:07.640 I grew up in Los Angeles and you would and 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:09.359 you would go to a house and they'd like give 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.960 you like a toothrush or something, so or they'd be like, 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:18.040 here's our sugar free, gluten free soulless. Yeah, they're like, 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.320 we don't believe in candy in this household. Here is 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:23.960 this thing that you definitely do not want seven year 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:28.480 old meat, but um, go off. So, I mean a 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:34.000 can of soup sounds lovely compared to that. Yeah, I could. 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.600 Some of them are fruit I have, like canned fruit 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.880 that's sugary, sugary. There you go, you've you've done it. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.320 There was there was there was a year that this 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.519 person like ran out of candy and then they just 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.600 sort of like giving people like touching with their hand. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:49.960 I have like a very bad memory of it. They 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:53.400 would like handfuls of like cereal they had in their house, 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:57.520 but it wasn't even like like a solid like sugar cereal. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.200 It was like the kind that you're is. It was 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.800 like the kind that you were like, mom, how dare 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.680 you buy this? Oh? Like the ones that are basically 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.200 granola or whatever. No, it was like it was like 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.480 it was like you were eating like bark, like tree bark. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.000 It was that bad um. And they were like, I 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.320 ran out of candy. Here's some tree bark that I've 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.000 touched with my hand. So all I'm saying is soup 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:25.679 not bad, canned fruit not bad. Somebody's old not delicious. 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:29.760 Cereal that they've touched with their hand very bad. Okay, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.520 good to know a couple of rounds of two, two 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.760 three or a can of soup people can pick. There 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:40.960 you go, solid option. Yeah, and then the cops will. 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.000 I'll be like, oh, look, you have a nice outfit, 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:47.280 you're dressed up like the police. And then then it's 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:53.640 actually them. Then Halloween's really scary, I know, just like 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.360 the Frankenstein's Monster came to the door earlier, where I 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:02.480 thought it was a costume, um and it wasn't a costume. Yeah, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:08.960 that happens, well, Sophie. Today is okay, it's Halloween for us, 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:14.240 but for everyone else it's two days after Halloween, which 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:19.440 is even spookier. And so I was thinking, I was thinking, 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.920 why don't I read us a ghost story? I mean, 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.200 I would love that, because I've asked you to do it. 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:31.240 But yeah, you know, well, fortunately for you, both the 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.640 you in the singular Sophie Lichtman, Today's guest and the 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.440 greater you plural, which is the original reason for the 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:47.280 words yeah and for for use for y'all. Fortunately for you, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:49.880 I have written such a story. And I'm even on 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:56.440 tour right now temporarily at my house, reading people stories 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:58.839 from my book of stories called we Won't Be Here Tomorrow. 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.520 Oh my gosh. Is that published by one a K Press? 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.600 And can people buy it? It? Is? It is available? 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:08.960 And if you want to hear a story from it. 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.440 That's what I'm going to read today. I love that 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.560 Margaret was in town for her work tour and she 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.840 read another story about a witch that was also really amazing, 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.560 and so I'm just going to plug that. So you 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:24.880 should buy Margaret's books so you can read that story 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:29.640 as well. So it was really good spooky stories. Usually 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.960 I basically just protagonize all the witches and such. Yeah, 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:35.520 I mean, you were reading the witch story and I 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:40.960 was like, Markers, is this about you? This is a 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:45.960 little bit about you? Right, it's not not? And then 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:47.920 you were in the middle of Reagan. Do you won't. Oh, 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.120 I guess this is kind of a little bit about me. 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.920 I love that. My favorite thing about going on this 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.839 tour is like realizing what's um the weird subtext of 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:06.040 all of these stories. You're like, oh, who did that? Okay? Yeah, yeah, okay. Well, 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.239 I'm going to read this story and you can feel 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:13.440 free to to interrupt as you as you wish. This story. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.279 It's called it bleeds, it burrows, it breaks the bone. 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.039 The land was beautiful, though the house was not. The 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.160 house was as decrepit as only a house made in 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.760 the eighties could be carpet paint and mold, too big, 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.480 too empty. Sarah nails herself was as decrepit as only 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.320 a girl made in the eighties could be skin teeth 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.160 and aches, too small, too empty. The land was an 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.359 endless field of snow with pines like iron bars, pines 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.320 like a cage. Twenty minutes to a neighbor, an hour 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.240 to a store, three twist city. That was Minnesota. The 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.080 Feds might not find her in Minnesota. They might not 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.880 break her, They might not bind her. They might not 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.799 throw her into a prison full of men. Trans girls, arsonists. 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.599 They belong in prisons full of men. Sarah watched the 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:01.800 roads of the window, the one over the desk, the 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.240 one framed in spiderwebs and dead flies. Nothing ever came 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.760 up that road, nothing but Darnell once a week with groceries. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:15.040 It bleeds. The walls of the house said, not now, Josephine, 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:20.680 Sarah whispered, you just when her grocery still all bleeding. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:25.800 So I was like, Okay, we're grocery shopping, got it. 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:34.720 What did we buy? The walls are bleeding? Continue enjoying, Yeah, uh, 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:39.679 not now, Josephine, Sarah whispered, it burrows. The walls said louder, 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:44.600 now more insistent. Please not now, it bleeds, it burrows, 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.400 it breaks the bone. Sarah put her hands to her face, 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:53.520 holding back tears. Not now, later, the house said, when 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:58.440 you sleep, when you dream, when it bleeds, when it breaks. Yes, Josephine, 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:03.160 we'll talk tonight. I look forward to it, the house said, Sarah, 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:07.360 in her despair, did too. The bedroom faced west, and 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.680 the setting sun cut in through the window, onto the 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.840 bed and onto Sarah. No blankets, just sheets and a 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.720 cranked up thermostat. It wasn't even four thirty, a few 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.840 days from midwinter, the sun scarcely bothered to rise at all. 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.640 A poster hung from a single thumb tack, lost among 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.360 decades old show fliers and political screeds. In photocopied high contrast, 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:33.240 three punk women with nineties hair, posed with guitars under it. 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.320 Cursive script read we don't have to win, we just 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.560 have to survive. Sarah had always wanted to win her 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.480 whole life. She'd set that compound in Virginia on fire 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.120 in order to win. She had killed two neo Nazis 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:47.560 with a little more than a gas can and a 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:50.840 kitchen timer. She'd wrecked thousands of hours of their planning, 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.880 plodding a million dollar arsenal. Gutted and twisted by flame, 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:59.199 Sophie that the thing about killing Nazis is that it's 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.880 a net gain of human life. The other thing about 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.800 killing Nazis is that, for some indiscernible reason it's illegal. 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.320 Oh yeah, it is. It probably because a lot of 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.600 them are making up the laws and enforcing the laws. Yes, 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:21.199 that that probably the the Nazi um what's it called 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:26.520 when people tell lawmakers my brain doesn't work. It's Halloween. 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:33.199 The Nazi lobby very powerful. I'm saying that if I'm 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.240 being sarcastic, but now I think you're actually just sort 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.640 of right. Friends within her movement found friends within an 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.160 allied movement who found friends within a third movement, and 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.240 those friends hit her in Minnesota. The people who were 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:46.440 hiding her didn't know why they were hiding her. They 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:48.840 didn't want to know, which is what friends of friends 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.160 of friends are for. They hired someone to look after her, 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:54.360 to show up once every couple of weeks with food 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.240 and hormones and whatever she needed, and that was it. 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:02.640 That was her life, now, hiding, running Minnesota under the posters. 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.400 In the bedroom sat a chair, an ugly chair, steel 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.679 legged and upholstered, with cracked vinyl on the chair, her notebook, 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.080 Nothing but Tally's in that notebook, days twenty four hours 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.959 reduced to a single Tally. Her life was reduced to 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:22.440 the passage of time. Now, Sarah, the house asked, now 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:27.040 is fine? Josephine said, The ghost appeared in the doorway. 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.360 She was hazy, only distinct wherever Sarah focused her attention. 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:35.040 Sarah had read the news reports almost twenty years back. 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.320 Josephine Declare had disappeared at age thirty nine, presumed dead 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.920 of exposure somewhere in the pines. Search teams hadn't tried 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.280 very long, and they never found a body, survived only 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.520 by an aunt and a cousin. The haunted sins died. 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.040 The cousin and environmentalist inherited the house and donated it 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.760 to the movement. Sarah wasn't the first person who had 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:59.160 been on the run at Josephine Declaire's house. Now, Sophie, 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.440 if you are stuck at a house in Minnesota and 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:09.040 you needed something to eat, what do you think what 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:14.120 would keep you going through those cold Winter Nights. Potatoes. 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:20.439 That's right, Sophie, potatoes. Potatoes. If you, dear listener, are 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:24.360 on the run for murdering Nazis and I know at 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:29.360 least of you are, Potatoes are your best friend, except 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:30.920 for the fact that you can't eat them roll. This 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.840 is the single biggest down to side the potatoes, which 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:40.439 is why we're also sponsored by ovens. Mm hmm. Eating 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.160 food before you eat it. The concept of ovens like 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:48.600 energy efficient ovens, m and like not just being someone 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.920 who eats cold chili out of a can, but someone 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.720 who eats warm chili out of a can. You can 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.080 you can make your life that much better by heating 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:03.520 your food before you eat it. I mean, yeah, yeah, 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.280 solid point. It's like getting your mattress off the ground. 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.480 It is an important step in the development of a person. 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:13.640 Are you saying it's time for an advert? Is that 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:33.840 what's happening here? Yes? Ah? And we are back from 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:39.439 those ads and the pines aren't angry, Josephine said from 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.240 the doorway. Straight black hair framed her beautiful face. She 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.320 had crow's feet and green eyes that were always wet 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.680 with tears, and she had the smallest mouth a doll's 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:51.480 mouth a mouth, Sarah longed to kiss what. They're not angry, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.280 They're just disappointed, Sarah asked, trying and failing to get 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:59.000 herself for the ghost to laugh. They're just passionate, Josephine said. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.720 They suffer, are they sorrow? But they do not speak. 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.520 I'm tired of riddles, Sarah said, tell me a story. 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.640 Tell me about yourself, tell me how you lived, how 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:12.160 you died. You think I'm not real, Sarah nails. You 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.560 think I'm in your head. I can't tell you about 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.840 myself because you wouldn't believe me. Then why can't I 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.800 see you? Two years is a long time to be 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:25.200 by yourself, Josephine said, it isn't. It isn't. Sarah, on 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.840 the bed, started to cry a little. I wish you 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.000 could hold me, she said, I wish I could too. 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.680 Tell me about the pines. Then tell me about this passion. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.440 It bleeds, Josephine said, her countenance wavering in the last 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:43.120 light of the day. It burrows, it breaks the bone. 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.440 That's the hard part about dating a ghost, Sophie. Right 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:51.320 when you said it burrows, and then you did that pause, Bill, 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.000 one of the lights in my studio flickered and one out. 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:58.000 I'm just saying, okay, okay, I'm just saying the vibe, 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.880 the vibe is there. Yea. Yeah. And we had actually 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.040 a different guest on, but something mysterious happened in the 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.160 middle of the first to take at trying to record 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:11.880 this and for legal reasons we can't discuss, but hopefully 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.680 that won't happen to Sophie. Yeah, I mean the lights 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:19.640 are flickering. We don't know. Yeah, this is not a bit. 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:23.200 The lights are actually flickering. My part is a bit, 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:28.520 but Sophie's part is not a bit. It'll be fine. 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:33.520 I'm not worried. Yeah. People ask my Halloween plans and 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.440 I was like, I've been on tour. My Halloween plans 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.160 is to sit in my spooky house in the woods 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:42.640 by myself watch movies. I know you deserve that so much. 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:49.400 I'm so excited replacing driving time with sleeping, which it 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.960 turns out if you do while you're on tour, if 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.720 you replace the time that you're driving with sleeping, um, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.360 you crash. Yeah. This is really fun and clever to 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.800 interrupt my own story like this. Yeah, I'm like, Margaret, 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.720 you're going on a tangent. It's your own story. I know, 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:10.240 I know. Sarah didn't even bother trying to sleep at 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.200 night anymore. Whenever she slept at night, she dreamt of 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.040 police raids, different every time, but every time she was 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.280 dragged away in handcuffs, or shot in the back as 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.160 she ran, or shot in the front as she fought, 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:25.040 or subject to things worse than violence. So she was awake, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.800 sitting in the cold vinyl and steel chair reading trashy 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.080 romance when the wolves came, the same pack of seven, 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.840 two parents and their children. They circled the house counterclockwise, silent, 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.200 ten nights in a row, and they were always silent. 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:41.880 She put down the book and went to the kitchen. 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.280 Darnell before she moved to the house in the Pine, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.280 Sarah hadn't held a landline in ten years at least yep, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:51.120 A voice said on the other end of the line, 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.760 distant and tinny. He was talking to her by speaker phone, 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.840 like always, can you come a few days early? I'm 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:00.920 running low? Damn girl, did you eat ten days of 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:04.800 food and five? Darnell always accented the word girl when 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.000 he was talking to her about her A lot of 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.280 siss people did that. It was sweet and it was irritating, 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.240 an equal measure, like Darnell himself. I gave it to 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:19.440 the wolves, Sarah said, mumbling, you did what I They 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.360 were hungry. They're outside my house. They howl like the wind, 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.480 and they pad and they plod, and they were hungry. 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:29.080 And now, yeah, Darnell said, yeah, sure, can you bring 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:33.200 extra meat anything, A couple of pounds at least. I'm 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.640 not sure this mental health sabbatical is doing you good. 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:41.280 Listen to me, the house said not now, Sarah said, 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.680 company is coming. We'll talk tonight. Listen to me. Now. 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:48.840 Sarah nails what. She put down her quilty and turned 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:52.640 her attention from the snow falling outside. Josephine wasn't there. 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.080 She could talk anywhere in the house, but she usually 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.720 only appeared in the bedroom only to watch Sarah she slept, 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.360 and as she didn't sleep, it's why Sarah slept in 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.080 that room under the house. A tunnel at the end 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.360 of the tunnel, a path beyond the path, a lake 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.680 on the lake, a boat across the lake, a bike. 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:15.280 A bike lays open the world. There's no tunnel, Josephine. 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.399 I've been over every into this house. Under the house 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:22.600 a tunnel. You're not real remember under the house a tunnel. 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.280 At the end of the tunnel a path. Who built 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.640 the tunnel? Huh? The gods of the pines? Are they? 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.640 Who is burrowing? Bleeding? You have company coming, the house 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.240 said and grew quiet. Sarah turned back to the window 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.600 and watched the truck come out from the trees, crawling 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:41.680 through snow and ice and four wheel drive. The truck 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.200 stopped just outside, and Darnell stepped out with a heavy 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.640 bag of groceries under each arm. He told you would 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:52.000 come back to groceries. I'm really glad we're full circling. Yeah, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.800 I mean, you wouldn't have enough food otherwise. Anyway, did 0:17:55.880 --> 0:18:00.600 she buy potatoes? You know? I I assume she's a 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:05.600 smart character? Okay, so definitely, yeah, even like it. It 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.720 doesn't even be written into the main text. It's it's 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.680 just assumed. Got it, got it? Got it? Yeah, he's 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.119 all Sarah watching through the window, and his smile crept 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:17.360 up into his eyes. He obviously thought she was crazy. 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.199 He was probably right whatever, but it was just as 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.080 obvious he liked her anyway. She went to the door 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.600 to let him in. He stomped his big brown boots 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.719 on the mat, then strode inside. You've got to let 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.399 me get a couple of guys out here. Fix his 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.680 place up, Darnell said. He went into the kitchen sat 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.119 at the table while Sarah put the food away, like 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.200 he did every time he came, her only living contact 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.760 two years. Look at this floor, the linoleum. I mean, 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:46.600 it's coming up anyway, and it's linoleum. It's a shame 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:48.679 the old house has gone. You know, a rum runner 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.119 house had to have a good wooden floor. As Sarah 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:53.879 had heard it, the old house had burned down in 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.119 the seventies before the current monstrosity was built. Before Josephine 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.120 had lived here, bootlegs had used it on their way 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:06.000 across the border more fugitives. He kicked at the floor. 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:08.040 I know a guy can get his lamb in it 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.840 pretty cheap. I don't own the place, Sarah said, And besides, 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.800 I'm just here, so you're feeling better. Darnell cut in, Yeah, 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:18.800 but for how long nails. Even when she's temporary, you 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:20.879 got to make the most of it. Don't be afraid 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.080 to settle in. Don't be living life like you're on 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:26.880 the run. That's what my dad says. Your dad left 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:34.720 you when you were ten? Yeah, dark joke. Magpie also 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.480 the most consistent laugh out of an audience when I 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.200 do this, when I read this at an event, different 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.360 lines get different jokes, But that is apparently the funniest 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:47.000 line in the story. Will you tell it an audience? 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:51.960 You can see Magpie space. She knows, she knows that shade, 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:56.359 and so she makes this space like it's really funny. 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:04.119 I'm being slighter. I really like it, just like that 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.200 slight shade where it's like, I know I'm being an asshole. 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.399 Your dad left when you were ten, Yeah, but he 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:16.000 wasn't afraid to settle in before he skipped down. If 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.679 Sarah liked men, she would have liked Darnell. He was handsome, smart, 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:25.159 never condescending, self educated, alive. She'd take a dead woman 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:28.040 over a living man, which wasn't fair to any of 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:32.640 the three parties involved. Hey, so I got you something 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:38.199 for Christmas, Darnell, said Solstice. Sarah corrected, sure, pagan Christmas. Whatever. 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.480 He reached into his pocket, pulled out a compass, said 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.040 on the table, it's not much right, but I was 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:45.879 reading about the lady who lived here. How she just 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.679 disappeared in the snow one day. And I grew up 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.359 not too far from here. And I don't go in 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.600 much for woo woo ship. But the land here is cruel, 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.679 just passionate. What did you call it? Sarah asked, sitting 0:20:57.720 --> 0:20:59.560 down a jar of pickles, trying not to look at 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:03.360 startled as she was. The land don't care about us. 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:06.080 So first I thought I'd get you a gun, but 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.239 I couldn't really afford it, and besides it might be 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.480 a bad idea for reasons and mental health stuff. And 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.440 I thought, get you a compass. You ever lost, pick 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:17.960 a direction and stick with it, doesn't matter the direction. 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.240 Dad teach you that too. Yeah, and he's a piece 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:26.560 of ship, sure, but he's right sometimes just fully saying 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:32.320 fuck that Dad. Yeah, not the best dad in any 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:37.679 of these stories. Thank you, Sarah said. She picked up 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.240 the compass. It was solid, came with a hard plastic 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.879 folding lid. She slipped it into her pocket. I have 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.560 something for you, too, Sarah said. She went to the 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:48.919 living room picked up the quilt. She tied off a 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:52.880 final thread and cut it. Yeah, she heard from the kitchen. Yeah, 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:55.960 I'll be in town later. Tonight or tomorrow. Yeah, something 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:58.200 came up. No, it's not a big deal. I'm fine. 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.600 He was on the phone. Sarah walked back into the kitchen, 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:05.960 clutching the quilt to her chest. Yeah, hey, I've got 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.639 to go. He hung up, put the phone on the table. 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:14.720 She stared at the phone. He stared at her. Oh ship, sorry, nails, 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:20.480 no cell phones, Sarah said, I know. I'm sorry. Here, look, 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.560 I'm turning it off now. It might be too late. 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:25.720 They might know where I am. You've got to go. 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:29.760 If you're worried, let me stay over. I'll keep you safe. No, 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:32.920 no sleeping over. You are friend zoned. Friends get quilt, 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:38.119 so don't complain. Now leave, Leave. She thrust the quilt 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.160 into his hands. This is this is amazing nails. I'm 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:44.480 gonna use. I'm going to use that. You are a 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:50.960 friend zone. Friends get quilt, so don't complain. Yeah, and 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:52.639 it took a long time, and I'm glad you like it. 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:56.159 Now go. He cast a long look over his shoulder 0:22:56.200 --> 0:22:58.439 on his way out the door. It was obvious he 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:01.119 was worried about her. That may sense She was worried 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:05.200 about herself too, but not weird enough to share her 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:10.920 bed with you respectfully. You are in the friend zone 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:16.360 and you are not coming out. Yeah, yeah, exactly, everyone 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:21.280 knows and it's fine. I actually I really consciously I 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:23.439 was like, I want to write a like sweet story 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:27.439 where like the person in the friend zone is just 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:30.399 chill with it's just like, yeah, that's that's that's our relationship. 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:33.360 It's fine, you know, because I feel like that's actually 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:36.000 most of my experiences of of putting people in this 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:38.159 terrible zone that is people are like, oh, it's the 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:41.320 zone where I got a quilt. Okay, like whatever that 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:48.240 has that has not been my experience, but your healthier relationships. Yeah, 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:51.640 I I try to write, um, it's utopian. The stories 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:56.000 that utopia. Yeah, I'm like that that that you know 0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:58.160 who you are. That did not happen, that was there 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:03.680 was no chill quilt situation. Oh did they at least 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:05.560 not get a quilt out of it? There was no 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:07.879 QUI that's great. I'm glad they got nothing out of 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:12.080 it if they weren't going to handle that. Yeah, today's 0:24:12.359 --> 0:24:18.600 subtweeted episode little Personal, Sophie calmed down back to the 0:24:18.640 --> 0:24:24.240 story please, Yeah, speaking of personal, the first time Sarah 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:26.680 met Josephine was a summer night, not a week after 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:29.240 the arson, while Sarah slept on her back in the 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:33.360 bed in the house in the Pines. In her dream, 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:36.040 Josephine had been sitting on the ugly chair, gazing out 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:39.920 the window, a bottle of pills balanced precarious on the sill. 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:45.439 Josephine had been crying maniacal hysterical laughter, sobs that shook 0:24:45.480 --> 0:24:48.840 the house, that shook the bed, that woke Sarah up. 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:51.919 When Sarah woke up, and the pills were gone because 0:24:52.000 --> 0:24:58.560