The Heavens have innumerable plans for us, but after we are born there is just a single one. ~ from Seiobo There Below by Lázló Krasznahorkai
Be sure to find me, I want you to find me, and we’ll play all over, we’ll play all over, we’ll play all over again. ~ from Georgia Lee by Tom Waits.
1. Ryker
I was going to write about the death of Ryker and the trial (now mistrial) of his parents, when I learned that one of the jurors – a woman – had suicided. It’s that time of year. And she had spent the last few weeks being exposed to pictures of an 18-month old (some reports say 20-month old) baby boy who died because he was burned – scalding with instant coffee is the probable cause – and the jury was shown images of these burns, clustered as they were, on Ryker’s lower back, side (sometimes “torso” is used), buttocks, genitals, and thighs (almost all the way to his knees). It is the very incarnation of David Foster Wallace’s “Incarnations of Burned Children.” Only here the child is real, the child was alive, and now he is not. They say he was left in his crib for three days before he died. He was never taken to receive medical care. In the local news, the burns that killed him are described as “red, blistering burns.” They are also often described as “angry” as in “red, angry burns” or “red, angry injuries.” The pain they caused was probably excruciating. A mistrial resulted because the mother was declared unfit to participate due to a recent surgery for appendicitis as well as some other complications. I spent half the day explaining to people that, no, this doesn’t mean the charges have been withdrawn, and, no, this doesn’t mean she has escaped whatever our justice system might have in store for her, it just means that everything is delayed and will have to start all over again next summer.
