Monique Quintana
Crossing Sticks and Lies
For Randa
I had decided to drop out of school on the first day of my MFA fiction workshop. I was wearing a black corset dress with life jacket buckles as my goodbye to school shroud. Randa emailed me to say she noticed I wasn’t on the class roster and said she was reaching out to make sure I was there. Three years later, when I did my thesis defense reading, I said that Randa was a cross between the Blue Fairy and Lampwick, and I meant it. That day I decided to drop out of school was my most Pinocchio moment. I was saying that I don’t care to write anymore. I sat on a patch of grass, and I went to look at the taxidermy animals in the Science I building. I contemplated the willow tree art installation on the lawn blowing away and turning into disco confetti. I got to class about ten minutes late.
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