” I ate the lobster soup. I liked it. It had a neat texture. I liked it better than the usual plebeian chicken noodle my mom got. I liked the remaining wild rice one…it was so hearty and different. I used the cow cup I’d salvaged from the trash, and the truth was, I liked the cow holding a balloon; it was cute. When I looked in the mirror, I sneered my upper lip and said, Benedict Arnold, Benedict Arnold, your head is on the block.”

Aimee Bender is one of those writers who half way through a story you just have to wonder – Who comes up with this sort of stuff? Who thinks this?  And the fact is she makes the wacky, the original shine through on the page – here through the voice of a 10 year-old narrator whose family is being “reverse” robbed. Things are appearing on their shelves; an extra tube of toothpaste, cans of gourmet soup, an octopus hat that fits better than the one she made her mom buy her at the mall, a toy that was broken long ago. At first it is unusual and a little creepy, and then they adjust and it becomes normal to the point where the young girl spends her own money to make things “appear” when they haven’t been for awhile. Her older sister has a boyfriend, her mom is taking a class called “Learning to Focus Your Mind”, Dad is always interjecting from the other room. Ms. Bender recreates this atmosphere of “Age 10 and I am being Ignored!” so perfectly. It is about change; how we adjust as we reject and covet what has been gained and lost.

The premise of the story is so simple – no big plot, just a family, a girl growing up and stuff seemingly appearing out of nowhere. So why does it haunt me as if  it was my own memory? That is the genius of it.