She'd fostered an insidious talent. I'd watched her inject germs of doubt into so many beautiful confidences.

March 28th, 2012, 8am

Molly was a fallaway Catholic. She’d grown up in the system but the only thing that she seemed to have truly internalized was a mastery of guilt and its effect as a weapon.

She was charming and warm to fresh faces unless they were in the service industry in which case she was usually rude or even abusive right away. She was not a pleaser and she never over-offered as a method of ingratiation.

Cordial would be a good way to describe it. She smiled and prompted you to keep the conversation going. She left each awkward pause hanging. Excelling at this game of social chicken. The pause would hang until the person that she was speaking to had to snatch it from the air, trying not to lose their balance in the process. Some did lose their balance which made things even more uncomfortable for them and established her control.


David Wade and Jordan said thanks.

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John McAlester

Adventure dad, writer, Content Strategist @canirank

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