The Year She Left. Kerry Kelly

he’d let loose a string of words so eloquent and insightful you were shamed to have to speak next. Graham was fucking brilliant.

      Stuart watched, awed, as his brother paced the living room and continued to strip him of all excuses and feelings of entitlement.

      “Do you think your life’s over, Stuart? It’s not. It’s not on hold either. It’s not waiting for you to come around here. It’s happening as we speak.”

      “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing now. You know? I thought I was supposed to be marrying Em, living downtown, working on websites and making my art. If that’s not it, I’ve got to take the time now to figure out what it is I’m supposed to do. We don’t all know at seventeen, Graham. We’re not all like you.”

      Graham sighed and sat back down, rubbing his hand down his face as he did so and looking like the older brother he’d always had to be.

      “Yeah, well, you’re a little older than seventeen now, aren’t you, buddy? So maybe it’s not about what you’re supposed to do any more, it’s what you are going to do. At some point you’re going to have to make a choice or give up entirely. Nothing will be perfect, but I guarantee you anything would be a step up from this. Dude, you are a thirty-three-year-old living at your mother’s.”

      “Lots of people my age still live with their mothers. It’s a new trend. I read about it in the paper.”

      “Yeah, well, maybe their mothers are fine, but we are talking about our mother. You don’t even see what’s happening here, do you? Have you looked at yourself lately? Have you seen what you’re wearing?” Graham said, pointing at the pajamas and robe Stuart was wearing. “She got those for you, didn’t she?”

      “Yeah, so?”

      “Doesn’t your ensemble look a little familiar to you?”