my sister lives in an empty schoolhouse up at the top of Wisconsin. her housemates are hatmakers who play the accordian and host cocktail parties at two in the afternoon. there are still blackboards on all the walls.
the weather's turning wintry and she says she wants to build a tent around her bed to keep the heat in. there is a boiler room in the basement. (haunted for sure.) my dad thinks he found down there one of the passageways to underground tunnels that crisscross beneath the town. (my dad is good at stories.)
my sister calls me tonight on the phone, in a perfect-pitch hilarious hysteria. we talk smack about everyone and my housemates hear me laugh like no one else can make me laugh, and I miss her badly at that moment. but there's nothing I can do. it's like knowing you can't ever date the friend that you're in love with. my sister and I hate each other when we live in the same town. we just have to live far apart and miss each other.