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A smiling mother holds a grown man on her lap like a ventriloquist dummy, red strings in her hand.

The deckThe Figures11 of 24

The Mother

Care, control, and the approval you are still auditioning for.

Figure
The voice in your head that is not yours.
Pattern
Care as control. The approval you are still auditioning for.
What it protects
Someone always knows best, so you never have to.
What it costs
You are forty and still asking.
The move
Do one thing she would not sign off on.
ON FILE
Thirty-one requests for permission, unrequired.

In each position

  1. HOW IT STARTED

    You were fed what was good for you. Some of it was. You swallowed all of it.

  2. HOW IT'S GOING

    You are checking whether this is allowed. Nobody is checking. You are doing it for her.

  3. HOW IT ENDS, ALLEGEDLY

    You will say you have your own mind now. You will say it in her voice.

Three questions

  1. Whose voice is that?
  2. What have you not done because she would not sign off?
  3. Who are you performing for in an empty room?

A sample file

A sample file

The file contains thirty-one requests for permission, for things that did not require it. This office has reviewed the voice in which they were made and has it on file from an earlier period. There is a second voice in the file that sounds exactly like you and is not, and you still bring it your decisions to sign. Someone always knowing best has meant you never had to, and the office has found the arrangement very stable. xxx xxxxxxxx xx xx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xx xxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxx xx xxxxxxx The office still runs each finding past a senior desk before filing, and the senior desk has been empty since 2019. Nobody has checked in years, and the forms still arrive signed.

EXHIBITS

  1. A. Thirty-one requests for permission, unrequired.
  2. B. A photograph with one section cut out.
  3. C. A slice of cake, in lieu of a ceiling.

UNDER REVIEWpending her approval

Every file is written for the person who pulled it. This one was written for nobody, so it is the only one you get to read without pulling. One sentence is sealed on every public copy, this one included.

On file in cotton

The shirt

She signed off on this one.

Mother Knows Best from $30
Pull your file

Once a day. Three cards, one finding, a status. How it works.