I can't see their faces and don't know how many there are, but I can tell from the sound there's probably more than three. When I go out to the front room, I panic because I have trouble with this group instantly.
I can't tell any one of them apart.
They each have the same outfit on. A white cotton dress and cream-coloured flip-flops. They aren't all related. They are friends.
One says she's Liz-ee with a "y."
The other one says she's Liz-ee with an "ie."
Lily.
Lou.
Mai asks me: "Damn, how are we going to tell these girls apart?" and when I don't seem to be paying attention, she snaps, "You paying attention?" I say to her, "We don't need to tell them apart.
Just get them done, and out. They want everything done. Toes, nails, face, hair." I look at those parts quickly-toes, nails, face, hair-and quickly try to find differences among them. Shapes, textures. Gait, voice, manner.
We need an extra girl on the floor with us. It would be Nok's shift, but she hasn't come in and she hasn't been in when she's scheduled. As if hearing a voice thinking inside my head, I hear it outside of me:
"It's been a half hour since Nok's shift started and she's not even here," Mai, at the desk, tells me. "If that were me, you'd tell me not to come back."
"Again, huh," I say.
"Again," she repeats.
I join her at the desk and check the work schedule from last week, and it's true she wasn't here then. I knew that without having to look, but I just want to make sure there's a record of it. It's unlike Nok not to be at work this long. She's got two little ones. Haven't heard from her. Not a call. Nothing.
She doesn't live far from here. I think of dropping by her house on my way home. See if she's okay.
I try her phone. Nothing.
"You think I should be worried about her?" I ask Mai.
"I'd worry about you."
Bu hikaye The Walrus dergisinin July/August 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Walrus dergisinin July/August 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype
Some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are throwing their full weight behind AI. On top of the billions spent by big tech, funding for AI startups hit nearly $50 billion (US) in 2023.
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
MY CHILDREN are grown, with their own partners, their own lives.
The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours
New techniques reveal hidden details in the Dutch master’s paintings
Repeat after Me
TikTok and Instagram are helping to bring Indigenous languages back from the brink
Smokehouse
I WAS STANDING THERE at the corner, the corner where the smaller street intersects with the slightly wider one.
How Could They Just Lose Him?
The Huronia Regional Centre was supposed to be a safe home for people with disabilities. Then, amid suspicions of abuse at the facility, twenty-one-year-old Robin Windross vanished without a trace
Prairie Radical
How conspiracy theorists splintered a small town
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe
Scott Moe rose quietly through the ranks. Now the Saskatchewan premier and his party are shaping policies with national consequences
The Accommodation Problem
Extensions. Extra exam time. Online everything. Addressing the complex needs of students is creating chaos on campus
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
I WAS AS SURPRISED as anyone when I became obsessed with comics again last year, at the advanced age of forty-five. As a kid, I loved reading G.I. Joe and The Amazing Spider-Man.