Hello, this is @saraoleary doing a little takeover in celebration of the Summer Reading Issue.
I wrote “The Ones We Carry With Us” in some of the between-times of working on my novel, #TheGhostInTheHouse. https://thewalrus.ca/summer-reading-2020 1/12

The story is part of a work-in-progress that mingles autofiction with pure fiction and I’ve patterned it on the old game of Two Truths and a Lie. I do respect what Michael Ondaatje in his ‘Coming Through Slaughter’ calls a “well-told lie.” 2/12

“The Ones We Carry With Us” is three micro stories braided into one. The first story is about being present for a death, and it feels very poignant to me now when I think of all the people dying without their loved ones near. 3/12

The second story is about the time I was robbed by someone who told me a story I only half believed. The wallet she took from me was empty so really, I lost nothing. 4/12

The third story is about attempting to be present with someone who lives mainly in the past. Volunteering with those affected by dementia allowed me to see there can be moments of beauty when unrestrained by the present. 5/12

“The Ones We Carry With Us” has three ghosts in it, but only two of them have died. Not everyone has to be dead in order to haunt you. I don’t know if I really believe in ghosts even though I’ve lived in a number of haunted houses. 6/12

My novel ‘The Ghost in the House’ is about a woman in the unenviable position of haunting her own house. I was asked in an interview this week why I wrote it. I wish I knew. https://saraoleary.ca/the-ghost-in-the-house 7/12

Ethel Wilson wrote something to the effect that you can only write unhappy love stories because happy love can’t be put into words even by those who have known it. ‘The Ghost in the House’ is an unhappy love story about two people who were happy in love. 8/12

I started writing this story of a man with two wives—one living and one dead—because I thought it was funny. Several years into writing it I was nearly subsumed by how sad it was. Now that I’ve finished, I do hope it’s at least a little comical. 9/12

Ghost stories may be about to have a moment. I’m not here to capitalize on anyone’s tragedy but interest in ghosts does tend to be cyclical, and our current situation is bound to make people stop and give thought to what actually happens to us when we die. 10/12

Swedish “death cleaning” is about ensuring your heirs don’t have to deal with hoarder-levels of accumulated possessions when you’re gone. But what about the memories we all carry with us? Can they be bequeathed to someone or must they die with us? 11/12

Tell someone a story today. Make sure to leave something behind when you go. My thanks to The Walrus for letting me ramble on here. Subscribe to the magazine. And look for the Summer Reading Issue. https://thewalrus.ca/summer-reading-2020 12/12