Headache – Make a Wish

An oversized bee tries to get in through the window, and outside the air smells of fresh-cut wood because, yes, someone really is felling trees. That’s the kind of detail “Make a Wish” runs on: a long stream of small, deadpan observations from someone sleeping through days to recover from other days spent asleep, sizing up strangers at lunch to work out who’s lonelier. Promising that tomorrow will be the day the to-do list finally gets done. The jokes keep landing next to real regret, a gift book left unread, advice that should have been taken, a person met only twice who never quite leaves. The wish of the title keeps coming back as a quiet bargain with yourself: other people manage it, so why not you? By the end the mood has turned, and every day sounds like somewhere worth staying. Vegyn features, out now on PLZ Make It Ruins.