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One / Meet the Lovelocks Retrograde, 2022
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⠀⠀IN THE FIFTH GRADE, EDEN LOVELOCK MADE THE BRUTAL MISTAKE OF ASKING HER MOTHER FOR HELP ON A SCHOOL PROJECT.
⠀⠀'Meet the Lovelocks!' scrawled in loopy ten-year-old handwriting per scratchy multicolour crayons and golden star stickers. Her L's were far too embellished, O's too ovoid; Eden took silent note of this as she padded into the living room.
⠀⠀The stuffy carpeted space hummed the steady buzz of TV static and smelled faintly of old Pinot Noir, no doubt the culprit of the burgundy stain soaked into the armrest upon which Dianna Lovelock rested. She wasn't sleeping, nor was she really awake. The Lovelock matriarch was only gazing at a small crack in the wall by the empty bookshelf with hollow eyes and chapped lips parted ever so slightly. The only sign of life, Eden had grown used to observing, was Dianna's thumb rhythmically tapping against her kneecap. Tap, tap, tap... Tap... Tap... Tap... Tap, tap, tap. The pattern continued for another two minutes.
⠀⠀"Mommy." The young girl lightly shook her by the shoulder.
⠀⠀Dianna blinked once, twice. She snapped out of her cloudy daze and turned to her daughter with a look of - Annoyance? Hatred? Distant gratitude? - Eden couldn't tell.
⠀⠀"Hm?" Her response was a bare acknowledgement of the child's existence.
⠀⠀"I have, um... I have homework."
⠀⠀Dianna merely stared back at her blankly, "And?"
⠀⠀"I can't do it by myself." Eden anxiously tugged at a ribboned pigtail, "It's Heritage Week. We're meant to give a speech on our family tree - see?" She brandished the neon orange cardstock rolled in her fist. "I drew the branches, and the people," - they were only wonky stick figures with long hair or moustaches to differentiate from the patriarchs and their wives - "But we've only met Dad's parents, and brother, and sisters. I can't fill in yours."
