“Cavatelli” describes the narrator's family's violent intervention in a relationship between the narrator's mother and a jazz musician named Tony. The narrator is a young boy at the time, observing his grandmother, aunt, and great-grandmother preparing for a confrontation with Tony. They pack frozen cavatelli into socks, which are later used as weapons to subdue Tony, presumably forcing him to release the narrator's mother from a mental institution. The passage focuses on the family's unusual and unsettling method of dealing with the situation, highlighting the darkness lurking beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary family dynamics. The episode with the cavatelli becomes a shared secret that the family never fully discusses, a recurring motif that underscores the complex, unspoken history that binds them together.

In this episode we talk about "Basement."

"Basement" tells the story of Jon, a young boy who endured physical abuse from his father. Jon's father would force him to choose between taking the beatings himself or letting his mother suffer. This "choice" became a recurring pattern in Jon's life, ultimately shaping his character and leading him to develop an incredible tolerance for pain.

The story ultimately highlights the lasting impact of childhood trauma and the complex ways in which individuals cope with it.

Read "Yellow Slicker" here: https://medium.com/@brokenself/yellow-slicker-8ea55fca9969

This podcast about "Yellow Slicker" by brokenself is a short story exploring the complex emotions of a young boy. The story begins with a light-hearted scene of a boy joyfully skipping home in the rain, wearing his yellow raincoat. However, a shift in the boy's demeanor occurs as he remembers that he shouldn't be this happy. The story's brevity and focus on the boy's internal conflict make it a poignant example of flash fiction, conveying the intricacies of human emotion through subtle changes in mood and behavior.