I am in a science fiction movie. The setting is a quasi medical lab filled with electronics equipment. I am strapped to a chair wearing a metal cap. Wires lead from the cap to a machine, with colored lights blinking.

My b.i.l., Donald, in a white lab coat, adjusts a few dials and presses a button. Electronic waves enter my brain, destroying all memory. When the procedure is done, Don re-wires the cap and presses another button. His fascist crap floods my brain. My sister is sitting nearby smiling and cheering. I am being saved.

When Edward learns what has been done, he murders Donald in his kitchen. Edward’s serrated blade rips Donald’s groin to shreds and his agonized screams alert the neighbors. The police come and arrest Edward. At sentencing, the judge, having read the circumstances in my blog, reverses the decision and releases Edward on grounds of justifiable homicide.

My sister, defenseless and frail, turns to her son, Johnny, for help. Johnny is on the east coast and immersed in his own life and he is also allergic to cats, though he is very fond of them. He arranges for Mom to go to a “really nice” nursing home in Valdosta, Georgia, but she can’t have her cats. They are released into the wild where they have a feral life. “This isn’t so bad,” says Dexter, the smartest of the kitties. “At least I don’t have to listen to any more lectures about how the Democrats and Clinton have destroyed America." Then the kitty meows a little song he wrote about democracy and how wonderful it is that we all have the right to vote our conscience. Very talented kitty.

Edward locates me where I have been living with a sympathetic Democrat who has been reminding me of who I used to be. Edward sets about helping to restore my memory and filling in the gaps.

None of my restored memory, however, includes any mention of Don or my sis. Instead I remember my life as an only child. I am happy and feel good. We all live happily ever after. All’s well that ends well.

Epilogue -- bear with me while I continue to process the family alienation. xx, Teal