Thanks to reality shows like "Sister Wives" and "19 Kids & Counting" I have decided to stop writing satire. Completely. I'm serious. You can't make this up!
It's also why I'm so impressed with Libba Bray's new book Beauty Queens. It's a sometimes ironic, sometimes witty take on beauty pageants. The best part of this book is the dialogue. It's as sharp as a tack. Bray also wrote in a few characters from our overhyped reality like Larry King and Sarah Palin, leading me to wonder if our news services and political discourse would be more relatable if they used Vaseline on their teeth and taped up their boobs. I'm talking to you, Larry.
Care to take a try at it? Tell me what the strangest part of reality is for you (by June 5) in the comments below and you might win a copy of A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford. In this book the main character commits suicide. She expects a calm end but her spirit ends up in a place between life and death. I know it's implausible, but is it really harder to believe than this?
The strangest part of my reality is my family. I have a twin, an older brother, a sister, four chickens, two dogs, and a cat. That wouldn't be so strange if it weren't for our conversations. We have really strange inside jokes like "Yogurtology women" and "portraits of chickens", "cannibalism", etc,. All these things that seem really normal or REALLY weird are over the top when they come to my house.
ReplyDelete"YOUR MOTHER LOVES THE CHICKENS MORE THAN US!" my dad bellows from the kitchen table.
"Mom, can my curfew be moved until 1?" says my older sister Darby while Skyping with her (sixth?) boyfriend. "No I love you more," she croons.
Shooting sounds erupt from the Xbox as Coyle dives with his friends for the Xbox controllers. "Suck it!"
My twin Hannah is watching Scrubs on her laptop, and joking around with Coyle and Darby.
I observe quietly from a corner, my nose buried in a book and a notebook. An ink pen dangles from my fingertips and I am invisible.
My family is pretty crazy. Not only that, but the whole twin part. People always ask me what it's like being a twin, but I don't know what it's like NOT being a twin. I have nothing to compare it to.
One girl came up to us and asked us "is twin telepathy real?" and we honestly had no answer.
My family isn't really big, or really small, but we are really crazy. That is my strange reality: chaos.