Visitation

They came down underground and they found me.

I was sitting in the dark yet they found me.

When they found me, alone underground, they said, “Come on out into the light, Harry. It is your birthday next week and we have to feed you.”

My father came. And my mother. And my brother. And my grandmother, too. I asked them how old I was to be and they answered. At first, I believed them to be hallucinations or jinn or projected daimons, but when we’d climbed out into the light from beneath the Harris County Law Library, they retained their solidity and coherence and were not at all like tenuous things.

And now you know what my family looks like and where I work and what I look like.

I swear I am not lecturing to them in the pictures. I just use my hands a lot to talk. 




Comments

  1. So now we finally see the elusive Harry in his natural habit. I dig it. You look a lot like how I pictured, including the suit.

    I'd like to imagine that in the last picture you're flashing to them "how many" old you are by counting off emphatically with your fingers, while everyone just kind of stares at you, wondering if the basement did this to you, or if you were always this way.

    Also, I can't really tell - does grandma have a really colorful and flat purse, or is that an iPad? Because if so, grandma is WITH it, man. That's impressive.

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    1. That's hilarious. Flashing up so many fingers to show everyone I'm going to be "this many" is becoming exhausting.

      That is an ipad. My ninety-two grandmother uses it mostly to stalk my aunts and uncles on facebook ("Paula hasn't responded to my text message and I know she's not busy because she just posted to facebook 5 minutes ago!") and to play some games.

      Delete
  2. For some reason I had imagined you looking very similar to your profile picture. Should've figured that's not a look for a lawyer to wear, all psyched-out and everything.

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    1. For a short time in the late Nineties, I probably did look like that profile pic. Before that, I had very long hair. After that, I had the beard.

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  3. Long may you bathe in the light.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Rupert. I do see sunlight once in a while. I have good things about Vitmain D.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks, Cal! How is Tomball?

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    2. I barely know. I haven't been out of my room in months except to go to the doctor. How is Houston doing? It has changed so much since I lived there, not counting living at the other apartments for the elderly.

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    3. They've started tearing down houses around my place in order to build even more townhomes. By the time you make it back into town, it's going to be all townhomes!

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    4. Hopefully, without the cladding of Grenfell Tower ....(English disaster).

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  5. Hope your day was fabulous, man!

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    1. Thanks, Donna. Any day I can read, write, and listen to music is a good day.

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  6. You look like you are trying to deny your 'age to be'. A fine looking group of people. Happy Birthday.

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    Replies
    1. THanks. They're my favorite people. I don't have a wife and kids, but I'm close to my family, and that seems like a life well spent.

      Delete
  7. Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing. I guess I'll believe you this time...

    -Doug in Oakland

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    Replies
    1. I did have pictures before, though...

      Granted, this time out, I'm not nearly so glamorous. Just as sexy, of course, but not so glamorous.

      Delete
  8. Having now seen you all I can say is I have no idea why you'd be interested in following my blog. Ha. But I'm pleased you do and it's very nice to finally see you. Your family seem fascinated in what you are saying anyway.

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    1. I don't remember what it was that got me reading your blog, initially. I'm going to guess it's not our similar clothing style. But it's one of my very favorites now.

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  9. Blogger ate my comment. I asked, did the family ask intelligent questions? Like, "where's that girl who used to talk about living in a hole in the basement and babbled about tarantulas?"

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    1. They don't get downtown very often, so they mainly ask questions aboout things they've seen on the news.

      My brother lived with me for a while 15 years ago, so he knows many of the interesting local personalities I know. He doesn't know about my blogs, but he wouldn't be surprised by Katy.

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  10. you blew your cover! nice looking lot of yuns ... anyway, happy belated birthday Harry. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Bella.

      I might regret blowing my cover. I'm concerned that doing so will make me more timid in my writing.

      We'll see.

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    2. I can't imagine that would ever happen, Harry.

      Delete
  11. Happy Birthday! Personally, I view those days as mildly irritating since I can no longer eat a whole, reasonably sized, cake by myself. Takes too many situps, crunches, and time of on the treadmill to burn the calories off.

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    1. Ha. I don't eat sugary stuff very often. This makes it awkward for the people around me, who are eating cake and ice cream on my birthday without me partaking. But things are awkward around me more often than not...

      Delete
  12. I had multiple pictures of real you in my mind like a modern girl with suit,a old lady like Hillary Clinton ha ha and a youth with long hair and no moustache or beard but this harry is completely different with beard and moustache yet cool.Ha ha only god knows if it is u,still I love this post and the characters mentioned in this post.If ur birthday is true then I should somehow gift u but book will take 10 days time to reach u.Lets see.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Wait around a year. Maybe I'll morph into someone else.

      Delete
  13. For a degenerate, you look surprisingly normal. Maybe that's the case with most lawyers, I don't know.

    Just kidding, guy! Happy Birthday!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks.

      I made sure not to use any pics taken at a close enough distance to reveal the weird.

      Delete
  14. Jinn? Now where have I heard that before? I think we may have me in a orevious life.

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    Replies
    1. I hope it's not that Nasreen girl stealing my material again.

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  15. You are lecturing them. There is no need to lie. Lecturing one's family (especially when they don't listen) is a must. So, yes, you are lecturing them while talking with your hands. Multitasking is a great thing.

    Happy (belated) Birthday!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Magaly. The great thing about reading me (as opposed to putting up with me live) is that you can put off listening to my stories until you want to hear them. These poor people had no off-switch.

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  16. Hi Harry! Nice to finally meet you!! Happy Belated Birthday! Thanks for sharing "you" with us! (I'm always so behind in blogging, sorry!)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Stacy. Now that I've done this, I'll have to get way less personal for a while. Maybe just fictional monster stories for a few weeks. Something like that.

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    2. Great. I like my short fiction better than anything else I write.

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  17. well what ever it takes to get people to listen - it always been tough for me to get people to listen especially family. Good idea to take the fam-to-work-day once in a while too.

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    1. Once in a while, I have to show them the oh-so-glamorous life that all of that money they spent on my years of education enabled me to live...

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  18. Nice to meet you; and I, too, talk with my hands so that it seems like I am lecturing ... and, at times, I am.

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    1. Thanks, Bob. Sometimes, photos show more than I want to see, I guess.

      Delete
  19. And here I was thinking you meant some dank cell. Oh. Wait a minute....

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    Replies
    1. Haha. No, it's a bright cell except every two minutes when the lights shut off and I have to wave my hands around again.

      Delete

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