Gemotions

Liam slumped against the wall of the basement, a box overflowing with his mother’s possessions at his feet. He felt his face heat as he flipped through a small, brightly colored notebook. On the first page, scrawled in her flamboyant handwriting, was: “Become a pirate.”

Liam stared. His mother, the woman who wore sensible shoes and baked the best apple pie in the neighborhood, had wanted to… be a pirate? He had to sit. He felt a lightheadedness.

He scanned the subsequent entries: “Learn to surf.” “Write a children’s book.” “Go to outer space.” His eyes kept jumping from one outlandish aspiration to another. He laughed, a short, choked sound that seemed to echo in the damp space.