Wendy K. Laidlaw

My ego just said, this is going to be really painful.

I'm not sticking around.

And so, but rather than being bereft and empty, something in me started to tell a story.

It just came out of me.

I mean, no intention of doing it, no rehearsal, no practice.

It just came out.

And as I did that, they just slowly forgot their intention.

You have to tell us the story.

Okay.

So you think it wasn't like Jason and the Argonauts and all.

What it was was surprising.

I just started to tell the story of my friend as if it was a myth.

And I told a true story about him.

And I said, what you don't understand about my friend, you cannot take what he says personally.

You can't do that because he's lost his mind.

And the reason he lost his mind is because he has an older brother who beats the crap out of him every day.

And then when his father comes home from work, he beats the crap out of him too.

And they've beaten the intelligence out of them.

And what's left is this guy that's just screaming at everybody.

And you can't blame it on him.