fail

A story in 3 panels 

No room on the fridge. 

I’ll put my food outside. 

It’s 26° here. 


Still no change. 

I do know 

And I do care. 

Trouble at work. 

The child I care for “talks”

With an alphabet we wrote. 

He wrote it and I decoded it. 

It’s a system of yes/no questions 

And the first letter of a word 

- then guesses and hunches

Until we have the word. 

It’s the third time I’ve used this 

Yes/No word pattern. 

Well, now he won’t speak in front of his family. 

So they stopped asking him. 

And started to doubt he could think at all. 

And now - he wants another chance -

But the answer is almost always NO. 

And I’m here. Holding a bag of skin and bones

With a kid who thinks it’s funny to prank

And tease when asked a question. 

It’s sickening.