Scorch Atlas: Damage Claim Questionnaire

A story from Scorch Atlas, a 2009 short story collection written by Blake Butler and published by Featherproof Books.

Recorded in a quiet, mostly empty room.

Where were you that evening?

My hair was six feet long. I sat wrapped inside it in the kitchen - a gown of deceased cells. Outside the kids from next door beat the house and brayed. Days before, I'd watched their father swan dive from their roof onto the lawn. Their father, the electrician, with the tumor on his cheek. Such grace as he held his hands together and aimed straight for the dirt - he knew already what was coming - he'd sensed the ruining air.