Birthday candles (pack of 12) Exchange requested → pack of 11 (pending) We told him even numbers were lucky. We were wrong.
Soccer cleats
Returned: no longer interested
Practice is too far from Dad’s now. “Boring.”
Night-light bulb
Exchanged twice (third pending)
He said the dark keeps changing shape.
Child’s drawing (crayon—sun, house, two figures)
Returned: no exchange or credit
He said he’s too old for baby stories.
Teddy bear (brown, missing ear)
Returned: no longer wanted (credit pending)
He said it didn’t like traveling so much.
Weekend visitation chart
Exchange requested (court denied)
He said one-parent, one-day. He cannot be divided.
Boys’ sneakers (size 12)
Return approved (faster style ordered)
He said they were too slow. Life’s too fast now.
Storybook: Love You Forever
Exchange denied
He said the book was “crappy.”
Backpack (one blue strap frayed)
Return approved (exchanged for two matching packs)
He chewed the strap the week everything changed.
Family portrait (creased at the middle)
Exchange requested (denied)
He folded it to make the sides touch. “Maybe it’ll stay together,” he said.
Apology (verbal)
Return attempted (item lost)
He said they don’t work anymore.
House of blocks (three levels)
Exchange requested (apartment version requested)
He built it the way the therapist asked. It fell anyway.
One whispered promise
Return denied (policy: opened items nonrefundable)
He said only kids keep promises.
Conclusion: No conclusion. Cashier left work crying. Kid left receipts.
Bio-Fragment: J.M.C. Kane is a New Orleans-based writer whose fiction and essays often begin as sprawling drafts before being squeezed, pressed, and distilled into something resembling narrative. He admires compression the way some people admire tightrope walkers: from a safe distance, with awe and mild fear, and something he only tries at home. His work appears in several magazines that cheerfully reject him until he gets it right.
