number fifteen

do not try to do too much with your own hands.

perhaps you can't quiet the baby but you can knock out these windows without a scratch, and then we can escape if anything comes in after us. when the hungry cat nips at our feet, you can dance while i grab her, your steel hands can hold her harmless until we lock her outside. you can't feel her claws tear at your fingers, but i can wipe the blood off, and your growing hands won't know the difference. you can stir the soup with your finger, you can strangle any stranger, you can push the wrinkle from the carpet-- but you just sit, nervous and shaking, rubbing your monstrous hands in your hands--.