Question and Answer with My Mother’s Daughter’s Brother’s Father’s Other Son
By Tommy Cunningham
Q: So, what are you working on now?
A: When I was new to growing up we had an anti-drug assembly and the guest speaker said, in some twisted way of warning us, “do not do smack, it feels like nothing else on this Earth, it is the best feeling in the whole world and you’ll probably never stop,” and I think since then I’ve mostly been working on not shooting up.
Q: And when was the last time you *****?
A: I don’t understand the question.
Q: And what are you sure of?
A: That it’s getting cold outside, that the wind is picking up, that at the very least the dead are always just a bit more certain.
Q: And would you like to live forever?
A: Uhm, yes, I guess I probably think that I would.
Tommy Cunningham was born in Syracuse, New York and now lives in Brooklyn. He tries to pay attention. He enjoys. The above is an excerpt from his piece Énoncé of Silence on the River Seine, which, alongside other work, can be found in full on his website: www.cunninghamtommy.com/fiction/nonc-of-the-river-seine.