Invitation to the Autopsy: Specimen No. 8

A Developmental and Line Editorial Pass on a short by Zachary Dillon

(picture sourced from the deep recesses of the internet, memed by Emil Ottoman, Cult of the Rainbow Rat, 2020?)

Welcome to the Autopsy

I hope you all find a seat. I’m sorry that I missed most of another week. Things have been incredibly hectic, but like they say, the show must burn down. Enjoy this with your Sunday whenever, morning coming down.

The archives and instructions for how to submit your work for a weekly autopsy exist at the link below and in short thereafter.

Submit 5 pages, any genre, any stage of dev, include AUTOPSY all caps in the subject line, give me your Substack handle so I can byline you if chosen, that’s it. Email to: emilottoman@gmail.com

AUTOPSY SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN ALL WEEK!

Be brave. Submit something. You’ve always got a shot. This week we’re doing one from a few weeks ago. Thanks for continuing to support the experience. If you’ve taken anything worthwhile from these, subscribe and pay, or spare a coin. There is only the work. And the work is never finished.

I WILL NEVER PAYWALL THESE POSTS! I AM DOING THIS FOR SUBSTACK’S FICTION COMMUNITY, FOR THE WRITERS SENDING ME THEIR WORK IN GOOD FAITH, FOR THE LOVE OF OUR CRAFT, & TO HELP WRITERS GROW

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I AM TAKING EDITORIAL CLIENTS!

Flash, short, novella, novel; I specialize in line and developmental editing for clients serious about working on manuscripts for pub (self, trad, doesn’t matter) that are non-traditional, experimental, or cross genre, with an emphasis on literary style, story at the systems and sentence level, and your voice as an author. If you feel like you’re on the brink, have hit a stall, or are interested in a consult do not hesitate.

INQUIRY BY EMAIL: PLEASE PUT “EDITORIAL INQUIRY” ALL CAPS IN THE SUBJECT LINE, AND YOUR NAME.

SEND TO: EMILOTTOMAN@GMAIL.COM

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Before We begin I want to ask you to go read a few things.

Substack High 2

Substack High has made a return! The inimitable

ARC

has once again captured the zeitgeist of both a certain number of people on the platform, and the entire platform as it has evolved from his first outing last year at Substack High, which I also suggest you read. But chances are if you’re reading this, you already know about that.

AND a little bit of self promo:

This short has given at least 4 people I know of panic attacks.

Naturally a second part is on the schedule for later this week. (Fuck, it’s only Tuesday)

And thanks to

Erica Drayton

for making me one of the TIF curators for Literary Fiction. Everyone submitting under Lit Fic for TIF starting the week of March 7, which is I believe when we curators start reading, submit accordingly…

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ON WITH THE SHOW. I PRESENT FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT, ENJOYMENT, AND PRAY YOU TAKE SOMETHING FROM IT:

The Autopsy

This is perhaps the ONLY exception to something that was announced and hasn’t started yet, but

Zachary Dillon

read

Tom Schecter

’s post here:

Introducing 'EMIL IS MY EDITOR'

And immediately threw his hat into the ring. Not only that but even though, yes, there’s a line, he said he’d be honored, no private feedback, if I put the story he sent me out on the slab. So here it is. Apologies to

Nick Winney

, you are first in line. But the first person who can put the official graphic (I guess?) on their page, is

Zachary Dillon

, thus:

(I’d give the rest of the suggested rules, but they’re in Tom’s post, and an email chain, and I guess I’ve gone rogue because everything is insane.)

Zach’s story is ~1500 words, but he introduces it himself, so I’ll let him do the job since it’s raining out and I’m fucking exhausted:

“I published this piece on my website as part of a story-a-week thing I did in 2021, and then polished and self-published it in a book collecting those stories (with illustrations by friends of mine) in 2022. So for all intents and purposes, it's ‘finished.’

But that book was mostly an experiment in self-publishing, so I haven't gotten much response to this story, and I don't really have writer friends for shop talk, so I'd like the chance to hear what someone—especially someone with your skill and wisdom—sees when they pull it apart.

Do your worst; I'm not precious about it. I had to shed my preciousness before I could write it in the first place.

Anyway, enough preamble. Now, I listen.

And like I said, get to it whenever you get to it. I'm just excited to be submitting.”

Okay, I’m back, this is a short, tight little story and very sort of experimental once you get into it. It’s short enough to push you through it, but it lacks some things I’d maybe suggest as changes. Since it’s so short, it’s perfectly serviceable. Thanks for the support

Zachary Dillon

. This may not be the most interesting or longest autopsy, but I will say this, it’s a very interesting story. Straddling the real and the boundlessly surreal in five pages. If it was tightened up a little bit it could be a fantastic mix of minimalism and surrealism, or magical realism (I mean, whatever, the presentation is what matters most. So I’d go with magical realism) I’m glad you published it.

The Text

(For those of you who don’t want to do an updown updown or double screening, here is a copy of the actual working doc on one of my MANY email addresses’ Docs. Feel free to comment, but please do not RESOLVE any comments. This is an exercise in following directions and being polite. And if you don’t have anything to say, don’t say shit. BEHOLD THE ACTUAL DOCUMENT )

Clown Car¹

I found the first clown in the glove box, dead.² The car suddenly smelled like a cat in a dumpster in the sun.³

The garage was already closed for the night, but Toby was still in the convenience store, and I buzzed him.⁴

He’s got a lazy eye, so while he plugged his nose and the rest of his face opened up all surprised, his right eye pointed over at the workbench like it was still too scared to look.⁵ “Shit… That’s not a… person, is it?”⁶

“Smells like it was alive. Looks like a person. Does it qualify, being that size?”⁷ I said. “It’s like a toy.”⁸

“Could be a toy.”

It was about⁹ the size of a G.I. Joe. It had¹⁰ green slippers, baggy red-and-yellow-stripe pants, a frilly rainbow polka-dot shirt, curly red hair, and a shiny blue cone hat with a green pompom.¹¹ But it wasn’t a doll—its puffy, half-open eyes were too real. ¹²Its makeup was smudged on its shirt and in the glove box.¹³

I took a flathead screwdriver and lifted the thing’s limp arms and legs.¹⁴ They made tiny patting sounds when they fell back down.¹⁵ I pried its lips, and they flapped like a real person’s would.¹⁶ Its jaw hinged open. The screwdriver tip clicked on its tiny teeth.¹⁷

#

Before Stacy and I split up, we used to take the kids to Flat Beach where there was a gas station curiosity shop with a taxidermy mermaid.¹⁸ It wasn’t a real mermaid, of course, but it was real taxidermy—the front half of a monkey sewn onto the back half of a fish.¹⁹ They kept it behind a purple curtain in a back room.²⁰ Cost a dollar each to see it, and we saw it twice every trip. The kids loved that thing.²¹

I told this to Toby while we had a smoke and waited for the garage to air out.²²

“Move the map racks and the gas cans to the far wall,” I said. “It could go in that nook by the soda fountain. Put a curtain up. Perfect spot.”²³

“Just lyin’ dead on a table?”²⁴

“Nah, we’d use wire to put it in a pose. Maybe like it’s juggling.”²⁵

“You think this is something people know about, but just you and I never saw?”²⁶

“Well, how many new things do we hear about these days? Everything’s been seen.”²⁷ I watched a car turn left at the light.²⁸ “I get the impression if it was common knowledge, we’d know too.”²⁹

The car pulled into the lot and parked at a pump. The driver got out and walked toward us.³⁰

Toby stepped on his cigarette and said,³¹ “Just a moment, sir, I’ll meet you at the window,” then went back through the garage.³² The guy went to the night window.³³

The stink was still in the car, so I put some bleach on a rag and wiped out the glove box.³⁴

In the passenger side mirror I saw the guy standing at the garage door.³⁵

Toby came back grinning. “First customer.” He took the garbage bag from the workbench.³⁶

“You told him?”

“Is it a secret?”

I got out the car and followed him.³⁷

He untied the bag, staring at the guy with his left eye while his right eye made sure no one else was watching. He held the bag open. “Look at that.”³⁸

The guy leaned and looked. “I don’t see anything.”³⁹

I took out my penlight and shined it in the bag. The clown’s legs were straight, but its arms were bent at funny angles.⁴⁰

“A doll,” the guy said.⁴¹

“That’s not a doll,” Toby said.⁴²

“Smells like shit.” The guy put his hand over his nose and frowned at me. “What is it?”⁴³

I shrugged. “We don’t know. We found it.”⁴⁴

The guy leaned again, and I obliged with my light.⁴⁵

Toby asked him, “How much would you pay to see this?”⁴⁶

“I still don’t know what I’m looking at.”⁴⁷

#

I tacked our first dollar, which the guy had given us, to the wall above the workbench. ⁴⁸I’d explained to him about the Flat Beach mermaid, and how this was probably worth more, but he said the dollar was all he had on him.⁴⁹

But he gave us that dollar even after he’d already seen it. Which meant something.⁵⁰

#

The car belonged to an old man, who’d brought it in because the fans weren’t blowing strong enough.⁵¹

We figured if he ever knew about this thing, he’d forgotten about it.⁵² That might be how it died. Forgot to feed it or give it water or air or something. Just let it die in its makeup. It had tiny makeup stuff? Did it put on its own makeup, or did the old man help? And who made the clothes? Were they doll clothes?⁵³

I opened the hood to look at the ventilation, and saw the second clown wedged between the exhaust manifold and the cylinder head. Its nylon clothes were scorched on the metal,⁵⁴ so I had to scrape a bit. It didn’t smell as bad as the first. A bit cooked.⁵⁵

We couldn’t put that one on display, it’d scare the shit out of kids.

I laid it out on a rag on the workbench to surprise Toby.⁵⁶

And it turned out the old man’s fans weren’t blowing strong because a third little clown had chewed a hole through the heater casing and wedged itself inside. I started to think the stupid things had all killed themselves trying to find warm spots to hide.⁵⁷

That third one was in perfect condition, just suffocated or something from the heat. ⁵⁸So now we had two good ones—we could set them up like they were juggling together, or like one was spraying seltzer water in the other’s face. We could rig a button for the kids to push and make the seltzer water spray.⁵⁹

That would mean waterproofing the skin with some kind of lacquer after whatever taxidermy we’d have to do. I’d call my buddy Sal to get his help. He’s good with squirrels, which are about that size, and he’d probably know something about waterproofing the skins.⁶⁰

Then I realized we could use the burnt one, too.⁶¹ If the bones were still good, Sal could set up a skeleton display. It’d be better than that ridiculous fake “mermaid,” because it’d be scientific, too, since it’s real.⁶²

I felt all shaky installing the new casing because I was thinking how word of mouth would explode about this. Families lining up through the parking lot. And museum types too, when they caught wind of it. They’d beg us to sell these things to them. We’d say no until the price was right. And even then we might still say no, just because. How often do new things like this come out? Not very often, and it’s never something like this.⁶³

Stacy would drop off the kids for one of my weekends, and I’d escort the kids in right away and let them look as long as they wanted for free. But Stacy would have to pay her admission and stand in line like everyone else. She’d spend all that time seeing the excitement on everyone else’s face, so impatient to see.⁶⁴

I fantasized about her coming at the same time as the museum people, and I laughed. That’d be too perfect.⁶⁵

#

I took my penlight under the car to look around. Sure enough, I saw some bright colors between the pipes—another one. Then tangled in some cable—another! I hooted loud.

Toby came in and shouted when he saw them lined up on the workbench. “Holy shit, we got five of ‘em?!”⁶⁶

“Shut up and help me with this.”

We raised the car on the lift and found three more in the wheel wells. Two of those three were useless, but we got more rags and lined them up on the bench anyway. All their shiny clothes were different colors like jewels.⁶⁷

I could imagine them rigged with mechanisms to balance on balls, swing from trapezes, somersault over each other. For fun we could throw in some of Sal’s squirrels and make the clowns hold whips and chairs like lion tamers.⁶⁸

Toby stayed the rest of his shift and helped me take the car apart. By morning he was asleep sitting against the wall, the car was just a shell on the lift, and there almost wasn’t room on the workbench to put any more of them.⁶⁹

I lowered the car and lastly⁷⁰ popped open the trunk. There⁷¹ was an old jack⁷² and a set of jumper cables. A hole was chewed into the foam of the back seat.⁷³ I lifted the trunk’s false floor, where instead of the spare tire there was another one.⁷⁴ It had long, blue hair. Its eyes were closed. Its limp body was wrapped like a cat around a handful of tiny, squealing clowns, each about the size of my thumb, blind in the light and struggling to suckle at the pom-poms on their mama’s jumpsuit.⁷⁵

FIN

So much potential. Draft it again and then post that draft. Please. This has much, much more potential than what you published as an experiment. Interrogate your work and be precise, details don’t have to overwhelm, but a perfect detail can bring the reader right to you. And for the love of god, call these hideous things clowns more often.

Thank you for your support. Thanks for letting me dig around in the corpse of this published story.

And everyone else, remember, submit any time. And I need cash so I’ll edit for an eightball to stay awake and two lucys.

I move in two weeks and one day, and we are going to be lucky to survive!

Fade-

Emil (The Editor)

1. I like the title.

2. This sentence could be handled so many ways. For a short, it's a good open. But there are at least six variants on it. Every once produces a little different mood.

"I found the first dead clown in the glove box."

"I found the first clown, dead, in the glove box."

"I found a dead clown in the glove box today."

As it is, this works well.

3. Drop the suddenly. Unless this is interiority from the POV character, to them, suddenly it could smell like that. As far as similes go this is not a bad one, but it's still nearly on the edge of what I would call a cliche. in a __ in the (some variation of something hot, usually sun) is a common one to describe awful smells.

This is where I'd suggest that with a story this short with an opening like this, a minimalist approach would be well feasible, if not in total, then certainly in spirit and execution.

4. Rare sight these days in the US in major metros, your French is showing. I like it.

5. Great sentence, maybe give another detail or an entrance if you want, but at this length it's not needed. You can eliminate the simile construct and it actually strengthens the prose here as well.

6. Whenever I see an ellipses in dialogue it doesn't come off to the effect I think the author means it to. Here, it may be worth it. But there's also the option of giving some business to Toby while he's making these observations. He's got a lazy eye, you could l ean into that. Either way, this is just a matter of style. As it is, the sentence does its job.

Also, the dialogue because it starts with a singular "Shit" splits better into fours here. 1-2-2 -2

Shit/that's not/a person/is it?

See how the soft S's at the start and ending of the dialogue play against each other? "Shit" and "issit" (which is trust me, what a lot of people reading will subvocalize that last line as.)

But this is just nerd shit.

7. One descriptor on why it smells like it was alive. Devil is in the details. Sensory descriptors that don't have to do with the visual, or lacking in sensory descriptors nearly at all in a story that could use at least a few, is usually a good idea. Also, consider who was telling the story. He had smelled the smell, would he comment on it, or is this immediately told after the fact, is this told as something else entirely? Would sensory details of some kind help the story, move the story, or produce a reaction in the reader?

8. You use like 16 times in five pages, cut more than half of them.

9. This is vague abstract language. You're in the narrators head, it either was the size of a GI Joe, or it wasn't. Or find a better unit of measure.

10. Suggest wore, had on, but "had" suggests that, yeah, it had these things, but it didn't have to have them on. It's obvious that it does, but as an editor I deal in precision, and this is the sort of faux pas that can be the difference in some places you submit to between rejected at slush and moving up the ladder

(yeah, things SO small can kill your story before it gets out of the slush pile and you'll never know why unless someone tells you shit like this. The publishing industry is so opaque it's really hard to explain how small of a thing can get your story tossed and have you waiting a year on a form rejection. It's a maddening process and there should be a way to streamline it.)

11. Description should be maybe pared down to the most vivid or essential details because this is such a short story. Editorial opinion.

12. Justify this observation with visual sensory details or else it's banal.

13. Great detail. By the way, you ever smell real grease paint like clowns wear? Shit could probably overpower the stench of rot. Just a thought.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the most powerful sensory details you can include in a story as smells. Smell is the sense most associated with memory and recall. Make someone smell something in a story and they'll start having flashbacks if you do it right.

14. good sequence of action here, suggest rewriting "the thing" again, vague. It's established as a clown in the first sentence. It's obviously a tiny dead clown. Maybe just go with something like, "minute dead clown" or the like. (Wordhippo.com saves lives)

15. The gerundind the sentence structure kills the moment, but the concept of this is perfect. The execution is lacking.

16. Pried its lips with the screwdriver? Precision. alternative "I pried it's limp smudged red lips open with the flat head of the tool, then pulled it back away, and they flapped limp just the same as any dead clown that wasn't so small, and a tiny smudge of grease paint was left on the screwdriver for me to wipe on my work pants."

17. I'd suggest moving these to active verb constructs, but otherwise they're good. Maybe calling the clown a he? Or is it a girl clown? You identify the dead diminutive entertainer for what it is in the first sentence, consider not calling them an it after having done that.

18. Some sentences just need to do what they need to do and this one works well enough.

19. This is a famous conception of the mermaid that was used as a sideshow attraction in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Monkey mermaid bares some detailing.

20. Back room is vague, add something here. Just a word or two. The back room suggests it's behind something. How would you get to the back room?

21. That thing is vague, rewrite. Otherwise par.

22. Rephrase, the syntax of this sentence is awkward.

23. Jumps into the stolen idea. I get it but whereas usually people telegraph these actions, you have it appear out of nowhere. Just, maybe take a beat between Toby and the protagonist to have this moment where the POV character gets gassed on this idea.

24. Put them in a place. This would be great to give Toby some business, or actually mention that they're doing this thing he just proposed instead, but in short. You don't need to show the entire setup, but it would work with them in front of the nook with Toby confused and gesturing with both hands at the dead clown. Also, the dead clown, if they've moved it, great point for it to be twisted up in a fucked up pose.

25. The previous would transition into this perfectly.

26. Toby is a little slow, and I think you could go a little farther with it, because this is a stupid fucking question.

27. This is always a good sentiment, there's nothing new under the sun, right? But it also alludes to a dark world of miniature dead clowns that the protagonist and Toby don't know shit about. I find this existentially horrifying, but I'm having a bad day.

28. Place issue

29. Correcting Toby's ignorance. Good moment.

30. Small details, small details, where to put them, what to make of them, where they're used and what they tell us about what's happening or the characters in the story, when there's this much interiority and dialogue with some exposition, they're a powerful tool.

31. Toby was smoking?

32. Half good half not, the dialogue is fine, the sequence of action and how it is written is slapdash.

33. More appropriate to call him driver or customer at this point considering.

34. Ugh, now it smells like bleachy dead things. Unless the rag was soaked or that thing was fresh dead, that's gonna just be bleachy dead shit smell.

35. Good detail, still I would like something about the guy aside from him being a guy. In such a short story with so few cast, both on scene and introduced, give them a little detail outside of dialogue and that they're people.

36. Wait, garbage bag? I like the open, the garbage bag has not been mentioned, rewrite, clarify, tighten.

37. This lacks something. Rhythm, precision, something about this sentence in particular, though small, is important.

38. God I want Toby to be a moron. I mean, he sort of is, but still. Also, good sequence of action, especially the bit his lazy eye making sure no one else was watching. (that's one hella lazy eye.)

39. Details on the guy again. Sretch this moment two more beats. One more sentence. I get the nature of the movement of the piece, but it would do good for a pause here. dude just paid to see a magic dead clown or some shit.

40. Expand on the clown, "funny angles" is imprecise. Go in, be precise in your wording and intentional with your details.

41. This interaction is strange. But I do like this bit.

42. “It's a CLOWN" I swear, this would be great here.

43. Then you could follow up with both characters. Details. Just, give me one sensory detail that's. Just anything that's not vague.

44. I'd have Toby be the clown true believer. But I like this line.

45. rewrite

46. I like this but I want more out of it.

47. Find. a. way. to. linger. here.

48. So they're entrepreneurs! But the guy is/was still just, "the guy" Sorta disappointed at that.

49. This is actually a scene, you're having a character we're inside their head moving the story along telling this after moving forward in their story as reportage on something that they just did in the story and why are you using this nested and clunky way of doing it? That's the question?

This is a scene.

You've written it as very brief exposition.

50. Ok, I have issues with saying something means something without giving any justification for any of the panoply of things that it could have meant. Especially in a story being told in first person third by the narrator as raconteur.

51. Fair. Wondering vaguely what kind of car it was. In my mind a boxy Navy Blue Volvo 1989 Volvo 240. But hey, that's just me.

52. This is a bold claim.... A tiny dead clown in your glove box? Deserves a little bit of explanation. But also, it's so plainly stated that maybe you know, he just had a tiny clown he forgot about and he died (that would be very Marquez, actually)

53. My one issue with parts of this section are they could have been at the beginning of the story. Not then entire ending, but some of this could have been front loaded and includes details that would have been good to have off the jump.

54. One more detail on this. That clown gotta be fucked up if it's melted to something.

55. Not the best sequence of action, but you know, it works if you want.

56. He's already dreaming of the future, I would have given that a moment. But also, poor Toby.

57. inside and hide above each other there gives me an editorial migraine. Rewrite. GOOD idea (cats do this, once I rescued a cat from inside a car's engine compartment) But this para is a rewrite, or a partial rewrite.

58. "Just" is always vague. Have the character own their statement. This is a mechanic, if it was somewhere it would have suffocated from the heat, have him own his statement, he has domain authority over cars (and I guess dead clowns) like you do over the story as the author.

59. Cut "So" as the sentence start, new para, it's disconnected from finding the dead bit pristine miniature clown. Maybe a detail or two on each clown. Not all clowns are created equal. Other than that, I like this a lot.

60. Expand on this. Get rid of those that's. Find a better way to say anything a "that" is connected to. You'll thank yourself later when you've got a stronger voice and stronger prose. (Mind you I know this is old, you're not very attached to it, and you've had it published)

61. Single this as its own para, it deserves the Eureka beat, but it also deserves to be a little grotesque. There's an unexamined element of the grotesque to this story that I think is ripe for exploration, but it would be something you'd have to decide you wanted to do. Otherwise, it's still a very serviceable story.

62. This point deserves some investigation and extrapolation. Again, the character is having a eureka moment, let him run away with it for a sentence or two.

63. This, but MORE. I don't know how else to say it but right vibe, but MORE OF IT. Go big or go home. Dude is having a lucid daydream about MUESUMS trying to buy his dead clown sideshow... Come on.

64. Good, but you could run this into the para before it to make one long insane daydream sequence. Consider the wording too. This all sounds very matter of fact, there's no passion and little variation in the wording of the voice of the character, making him seem less alive by proxy aside from the surrealism inherent to the story. This could also give us insight into the issues with Stacy and the kids... He seems angry about it. Maybe he'd have more to say.

65. I want him to be more insane here in some very particular way that you could write, but you don't stick the landing and it ends on a flat note.

66. Now it's dead clown hide and go find 'em. I like the idea.

67. Good sequence, but bad detailing. Why did you get more rags? Were they laying them out on the rags or wrapping them in them. Details man, details. Last sentence doesn't pop like it should, rewrite it with your whole chest.

68. I love this, but make it bumfuck crazy talk. Delusions are awesome in fiction, especially in first person. We're in his head, he doesn't have to imagine. He can just see them. Right there, his own little dead tiny clown circus...

69. Very decent sequence of actions, it's morning, give a detail to morning, morning always deserves a detail of some kind, almost. It could be how the light crept into the windows and hit the dead clowns. CLOWNS, they're not "them" they're TINY DEAD CLOWNS.

70. cut

71. Inside

72. rusted, pristine, one on the body detail.

73. want this to seem both creepy and completely normal. You played it fairly straight in the lead up to the end.

74. CLOWN! TINY FUCKING CLOWN! (Is there a reason you wouldn't call them what they were? If there's a reason within the story, justify it or perfect it in the narrative)

75. Ah, the magical realism/literary ending. OK, for this ending to work, it has to do something. What would finding these very much alive squealing clown rat pups do to the narrator? Would he have a moment where all his dreams are dashed, burnt and blown up right in front of him, or would this be even more exciting. Leaving it on this ledge is a literary trope. If before and during while he's describing exactly what he sees, he were to say, I don't know, have moments where his dreams are either dying or expanding, the final line hits with an emotional punch. As it is, it's just literary in pretense and style, but it doesn't REALLY close out the narrative arc of the story as you've set it up, unless you can tell me the formalist or experimentalist mood you were trying to create with the ending.

This is the first story I would suggest a near total rewrite on in the Autopsy series I think. The idea is solid, the bones of the story are good, the concept is unique, but the execution is amateurish. You needed to let it cook a little longer.

I still enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, and I'm planning on reading what you're serializing now, I'm just disappointed as an editor and a reader that this story didn't really pay off, and I'm left feeling both hollow and a little bit cheated somehow out of what could have been.

But thank you for letting me put it up on a slab.

I hope you get something out of it.

And I hope that this day is over soon. (Yesterday now.)

Because fuck today.