He simply would not listen, would not change the way he did things, and would not stop bringing in more and more junk that nobody on the planet wanted. We had no idea how this three-quarters-dead old man would leave another four hundred pounds of crap for us to sort, but he pulled off this…
A very bad man, part four
December 1, 2013
When we arrived at Larry’s hanger, he told us he didn’t have the key, so we’d have to go home. Instead, Tim took a crowbar from his car and silently broke the lock while Larry wailed. Inside, we learned the last of Larry’s secrets. His hidden treasure was a landfill of magazines, cardboard boxes, empty…
A very bad man, part five
December 1, 2013
After we were back within our own walls, I waited an hour and then called Larry’s home number. He answered with his mouth full and told me that he was perfectly okay. I could hear his television blasting in the background “I’m really sorry, but I can’t come back,” I said. “Yeah, sure, I understand….
Vergangenheitsbewältigung
October 28, 2013
The Germans are great at coming up with words to describe the complexity of human existence. Schadenfreude. “The humor one feels at another’s misfortune.” Laughing when someone’s pants fall off in public, for example. Backpfeifengesicht. “A face badly in need of a fist.” Someone who’s got the kind of face you just want to smash….
Suicide, euthanasia, or plowing ahead?
October 1, 2013
In Belgium you can ask to be euthanized if you’re mentally ill and want to escape it. A forty-four-year-old woman named Ann G. suffered from anorexia nervosa. Psychiatrist Dr. Walter Vandereycken—an internationally renowned expert on anorexia and a sexologist—treated her. He also had sex with her. After Vandereycken was not punished, another psychiatrist euthanized Ann…
The rabbit trance
September 27, 2013
That’s Tim’s elegant phrase for the state of passivity we entered when confronted with a situation we knew was wrong. Tim’s “rabbit trance” refers to the helpless fear of a rabbit. The other rabbit trance—tonic immobility—is a phenomenon well known to pet owners. You put the rabbit on its back, and it freezes. It’s an…