Conspicuous consumption, retail therapy, a botched makeover

The first time he calls the talk line, it’s because he wants to die. Whatever has happened in his brain has made him a stranger to himself.

I was still exploring my power to hurt others and was continually surprised by how potent a single sentence could be. I watched my mother’s face waver and then crack open.

A commercial fisherman, a difficult pregnancy, a widowed father

Flunking a driver’s test, frightening a bully, grown up at fourteen

After school, after a divorce, after an earthquake​

Like the other fishermen, I am waiting to have the day’s catch processed and flash-frozen for transport back to the Lower 48. A recent vasectomy makes me stand in line at a cant. I shift my weight to ease the dull throb in my groin.