WEBVTT

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This one's called "Ravished.

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And there are two
characters in here

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that are having a
conversation towards the end.

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And there are no signals
other than the punctuation.

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So I'm going to just--

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I'll go like this when there's
the first character or this one

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is the second one
just for clarity.

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And that should be enough.

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"Ravished."

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"He absolutely killed me--

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ravished.

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Their mother loved
idioms, coaxed life back

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into the dead slang
of generations

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past; cool beans, groovy
daddy-o, and douche bag

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all had a place at the table,
the breakfast table where she

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often discussed
termite tracks along

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with her nightly rendezvous.

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'Killed me' always meant
something wonderful,

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but ravish was the
sisters' favorite.

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Ravished.

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'Ravished,' they whispered
into their cereal bowls.

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The milk moved under breath.

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Though still alive
then, their mother

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was scrubbed bare like
an antique candlestick

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holder restored in the morning
and tarnished by midnight,

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a candle holder wearing
a pink, terry cloth

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robe with knots of gray lint
from her daughters' hoodies.

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Some mothers are too
big for cemeteries,

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their presence cascades out and
up like history, like algae.

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The sisters put her in the
grave and never looked back,

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not because their
mother didn't deserve it

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but because they could
find her elsewhere.

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Mother, sister, daughter, miser,
hooker, soccer coach, thief,

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apartment dweller, dog hater,
agoraphobe, lady cuckold,

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savior, and friend
would've cost too much

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by the letter on a tombstone.

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They celebrated her
birthday no matter what,

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rock climbing in
the Sierra Nevada,

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moose hunting in Alaska,
and online double-dating,

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which was not too unlike
shooting the moose,

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which they didn't.

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It was the buying of gear,
the preparation, the ritual,

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and the distance
that mattered most.

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But they ran out of
ritual and youth and money

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and eventually turned to
tequila and random parking lots.

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This year, a favorite,
the 24-hour Laundromat;

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the hypnotic hum of the
spinning machines calmed them.

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'I wanted it badly,'
one told the other.

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'What?'

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'To be ravished.'

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The other spit out her
booze in a soft dribble.

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'Me too, even though it
seemed like a horrible thing.'

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'It is a horrible thing.'

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'And not.'

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'It's when a bunch of kittens
claw at the air all around

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your body.'

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'You thought that?'

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'Of course.'

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'No, it's when you fall down
together in leaves and roll

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around and splash until
it feels like drowning.'

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'It's when a boy does karate
kicks around your head

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but always misses.'

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[LAUGHTER]

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'It's football.'

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'It's when you run together
on a beach riding horses.'

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'White horses.'

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'Clydesdales.'

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'No, it's when you can't see
because he's got his hands over

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your eyes, and there
is a surprise waiting.'

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'It's when you have to go to
the doctor and the doctor takes

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blood and the blood goes and
the tube and he looks you right

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in the face and smiles
and you want to throw up.'

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'It's when you throw
up on your doctor.'

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[LAUGHTER]

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'On your boyfriend--'

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'Who is a doctor.'

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[LAUGHTER]

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'It's when you agree to be
somewhere at the same time,

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but he doesn't show up so you
drink brandy in a cocktail

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dress and on the porch until
mosquitoes make you go back

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inside.'

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They stopped.

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They considered how far
they had not gone still,

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the lives they
were supposed to be

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living on behalf of the dead.

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They consider the
laundry and the moose,

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unkilled, still frolicking,
roaming, and living

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that good moose life."

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[LAUGHTER]

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I don't know about
that last line, but.

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[LAUGHTER]