Mattie sat at the table, obsessing, orbiting around herself. She was sick of her worried, hostile mind. It would have killed her long before, she felt, if it hadn’t needed the transportation.

More from Blue Shoe

• After a while the middle-aged person who lives in her head begins to talk to her soul, the kid.
• I just gave up one day. Around the time the news about toxic shock syndrome came out. I thought, Fuck me, man, I give up. Come and get me.
• Mattie was in love with Daniel, of course; this was the X within the circle on her map: I love Daniel.