Do we have food at home?

I’m positive I told you the other day

Or the one after, or before,

Or maybe it was to someone else

Was I doing something? I was--

I was saying something!

Something about a cat? Or my homework

Do I have homework? I always have homework

I should do that, or maybe throw out that salmon

I threw out the salmon? How long has that been there?

A week? What did I even do last week?

Not what I was supposed to.

I’m behind on everything. Would be great if I could keep track of what.

Would someone care to remind me what I have to do before the panic hits?

Would be great, you know

If I could just

Start a project before the deadline

Or at least remember to feed myself.

You know when I lived alone this past summer

I kept forgetting to make tuna salad

And then I made it, but I didn’t finish it

I left half an onion in the fridge and then it got moldy

I meant to make something with it, I did

I just forgot it was there?

Have I told you this before? No, maybe it was someone else

I wish I was someone else

Someone with the capacity for task management

And maybe some fucking object permanence

How did we get here again?

Right, I came down for something

Something,

Something I told you the other day...

Oh! I was going to ask if you wanted to order food with me.

About the Author

Eugenia Shapiro (she/they) is the pen name of a certain Ukrainian Jewish masters student at the University of Michigan. Shapiro is an autistic writer and literary scholar with an interest in speculative fiction and Jewish inspired fantasy on both a personal and academic level. One can find her reading, drinking far too much coffee, and studying languages around central campus. She's delighted to share her disability related work in this anthology!