Broken
"Everything Everywhere All At Once" (even here): A brand new story | Fiction | Fresh Soup
I just met a woman on the street who told me that she likes my stories, she’s not a stalker, and she was sent from the future to tell me to go and see Everything Everywhere All At Once. I’m not sure about the “not-a-stalker” bit, but she did seem to come from the future, so just in case, I’ll go and watch it very soon. To be honest, I already had a karmic connection to this film long before time-traveling women began not-stalking me, because I wrote a brand-new story for A Vast, Pointless Gyration of Radioactive Rocks and Gas in Which You Happen to Occur, which is a tie-in anthology about the multiverse, created and edited by the EEAAA filmmakers and designed by someone really, really talented (the book looks amazing). So here’s my multiverse story. I’m sure there’s an infinite number of parallel universes in which you love it.
This story has just relocated to Autocorrect, my forthcoming book.
My mom lived to be 94 years old. She and my daughter had many conversations that included discussions about books, politics, human behavior, and parallel universes. My daughter gave a powerful eulogy concluding with her thoughts that my mom might be smiling upon her friends and loved ones from a parallel universe. The funeral parlor's son said he never heard a eulogy that mentioned parallel universes. Thank you for this reminder and allowing me to indulge this memory. It makes me wonder what my mom would have to say about it.
I couldn't help but share:
A week or so ago, a lady that I'm so lucky to call my friend told me a story about how she was walking through a park last night on her way to see a movie and bumped into our favorite author, so she went up to him and chatted and it was all pretty surreal.
Now reading this story, I'm thinking about a universe where I never met her -- where I didn't have her make me buy A Girl on the Fridge when I was going through one of the hardest times in my life and needed the wonder infused in those pages and the pages and pixels of his other tales about sentient hats or whatever silly thing is actually about so much more.
So I'm thinking about a universe, where I didn't have this amazing friend who gave me awesome conversations, friendship, getting of weird jokes-ness and just being there-ness -- which is honestly a rare and special skill...
And wow! I'm glad I am where I am.
Anyways, I'm so glad I know that not a stalker from the future because she's given me so much in the past, present, and I know... the future.
And I know that all the mes who have her as a friend, even the ones who are who have no legs or have way too many legs -- they're damn blessed.