Sorry for the Inconvenience: A Memoir by Farah Naz Rishi

Author:Farah Naz Rishi [Rishi, Farah Naz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

PART III

Dizzy with Heaven

CHAPTER 21

Djerba

And so, on Stephen’s and Mom’s urging, I accepted the spot at Odyssey.

It took place during the summer at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire, and workshop attendants were to live in the dorms. I was paired to room with a delightfully fascinating Chinese American girl named Rebecca. A few weeks before our move-in date, she emailed me to inform me that she would be bringing the following: “a pot, and a dishrag, and also maybe a spoon.” Like me, she had never taken a writing class before and was excited to meet other aspiring writers. “I love reading military fantasy and gruesome dark Chinese lore—what about you?” she’d asked, again over email. I could feel the beaming smile behind her question.

I never responded. She made me nervous, at first. Over email, she sounded mildly unhinged and far too energetic for someone as bone weary as I was.

By the time a month had passed, and I was ready to leave, Dad was deteriorating fast. He was over halfway through his chemo treatments, and what little weight he’d been holding on to had fallen off. Most of us will outlive our parents; we accept this. But watching your parents’ bodies be whittled down by disease is unsettling in ways that will haunt you for life. It was brutal to watch, brutal to leave.

But when I arrived, the whole thing was like visiting a sacred place, a six-week test of wills and passion. It’s hard to put into words, mostly because I’m pretty sure we had to sign an NDA.

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