BUBBEMAISSE: A grandmother's tall tale told in the shtetl.

 I SHOULD HAVE STAYED HOME

She’s been sitting here forever; dried lipgloss on a white mug, bitter coffee gone cold, hair once curled lies lank against her back while all around her people go about their business. No one cares. No one is invested. No one is privy to the ways the world breaks her heart, dashes her dreams, kills her cat.

Horace McCoy would feed her her lines if he were still alive. “I Should Have Stayed Home,” he’d whisper in her ear and she’d look into the camera and repeat, “I Should Have Stayed Home.”