Martin Duguay

Love Is Like Oxygen

you get too much you get too high, not enough and you’re gonna die. Sweet’s latest album is spinning on the turntable. Dad tells me to turn it down as he answers the phone.

My cousin Stephane and I trade one childhood memory after another while our drinks rest on the table untouched. He was the cool kid who taught me to shoot a BB gun, which I would aim off target so as not to kill any birds. It’s how this scene plays out in a recent dream.

Dad gets off the phone. It’s my aunt. Stephane died in a car crash. He was only eighteen. I’m just thirteen.

silent night
a cicada
falls from a tree

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About the Author

Martin Duguay teaches at the Department of English Language Education, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, South Korea. Whenever he can, he enjoys exploring the countryside on his bicycle.