Author: M. Pence

  • A Clockwork Heart

    A Clockwork Heart

    Originally written in January 2012 as tribute, as healing, as grieving.

    I have a clockwork heart.

    When I wake up, all the gears tick, spin, and hum. They turn without protest as I swing my feet out of bed and go about my morning routine. Slow and steady, spokes touch spokes, turning the great machine that is my body and brain into a slide show of normality.

    I wash my face.
    (That looks like my mother’s if she were fat.)
    I brush my teeth.
    (That are crooked like hers but not like hers.)
    I brush my hair.
    (That darkened from a daisy-blond, like my mother’s. That is thinning as I age. Like my mothers.)

    I miss you.

    I look at my Christmas tree; I feel numb. I lay in bed at night and tried not to wake my husband as grief crept in like warning waves before the tsunami. I stare at the Christmas lights in our bedroom window and think their glow has been dimmed, like mine.

    Inside my heart, the pieces wind down as the clock keeps ticking. Memories become slug-thick, crude oil that trickles down into all the once-working pieces until I can feel it struggle to beat. The wheels are slowing down.

    I see: My mother is bored in a car, waiting for my father. I act like an idiot to entertain and get her to laugh. It works.

    I see: My mother took me out one night to the casino. She keeps spending money. She keeps saying she has a good feeling about this machine or that. Soon, she’s spent so much that I dread us coming home. We are so in disbelief at how much money she’s lost that we’re laughing our heads off, hooting and howling, cackling and giggling the whole way home. My mother laughs so much on the doorstep that she begins to cry/cackle. She has to lean on the door so as not to fall. I laugh with her because I love nothing more than my mother, happy.

    It’s hard for my heart to keep working. It keeps skipping and slipping; the wheels are choking on specks of dirt that bind delicate mechanics. I’m not looking at the tinsel on my walls, and I refuse to turn around and look at my tree. I think about all the places I promised I’d take her when she visited me in Florida. I think about all the food she’d never eat, the things I wanted to show her she’d never see.

    I think about Disney. How she had always dreamed of visiting Disney.

    My heart winds down to a stop, and all the gears jumble on top of one another, squeezing against my lungs. Springs, strings, screws, and broken childhood dreams pile up on one another; they are cars in the snow on the highway that don’t know how to keep from slipping. It grows and grows and grows until it feels like an angry hand reaches in to squeeze everything that I am until it breaks.

    It feels just like dying, like someone you love has died.

    I have a clockwork heart. During the day, its gears whir and spin, carrying me through the mundane with what feels normal. At night, it stops, and I am small and lost. There is no lullaby to sooth it.

    The woman who once sang me songs in the terror of my night is gone. I hear only my heart screeching to a halt and the silence.

    Image of my mother, to which clockwork heart is dedicated to.

    For my mother.
    April 2nd, 1956 – December 11th, 2011

  • Lil Gator Game – At A Glance List Review

    Lil Gator Game – At A Glance List Review

    Info:

    • Did I purchase Lil Gator Game? No, part of Xbox Game Pass
    • Available on Steam, Xbox, Switch
    • Controller or Keyboard: I used a controller.

    At a Glance Review:

    • Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    • Quests: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    • Art Style: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    • Soundtrack/Music: ⭐⭐⭐
    • Combat: None.
    • Controls: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Do I Recommend It?

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A very enthusiastic yes from my inner child.

    What I Loved:

    • The story is simple yet 100% made from the heart and extremely meaningful. Lil Gator is a game for children of all ages. I didn’t expect my inner child to be so touched by this game, but it was the perfect mix for kids and those who experienced childhood as either introverts or extroverts. This game also portrays adults who fully embrace childhood’s odd, unusual, unique, and imaginative outcomes without fear of being judged or dismissed. Something I think many of us as adults needed back then and today.
    • A bucket is your helm, a sparkly star wand can be your sword, an inflatable tube your shield, and many other everyday items turn into magical relics as you traverse the islands of your home. While you do, you encounter memories of yourself and your big sister, make friends everywhere you go, and scheme to create The Best Story Ever, using imagination and cardboard.
    • The bright colors, simple cell shading, and fun little challenges all create a low-key, relaxing atmosphere with no pressure to be perfect.
    • Your enemies are made of cardboard, and your currency comes from the confetti you receive once you defeat them with your chosen weapon.
    • The quests are hilarious and fun.
    • The entire game is an homage to childhood, nostalgia, and, of course, perhaps one of the most legendary games of all time: The Legend of Zelda.
    • Lil Gator also gently weaves in subject matter such as family, responsibility, and the divide between siblings of different ages.
    A screen shot from the Lil Gator game, featuring the titular character, a small gator wearing a hat, traversing mountains and hitting cardboard enemeies.

    What Didn’t Work For Me:

    My single complaint (a small one) is that there were no in-game minimaps or indicators of where to go. However, I am very sure that is a definite me problem. Getting lost in details and scenes and then forgetting where I should go for a quest is something I do a lot of. The island spaces are small but also come with many steep valleys and high hills or mountains, making it a bit difficult to figure out at which elevation your quest tasks might be.

    Accessibility:

    • There is no map menu or mini-map. The game asks you to rely on memory to find where people or things are. They do offer in-game tourist boards to look at, but they lack icons or visible navigation text.
    • There is no quest tracker in Lil Gator, so it made it challenging to keep track of what quests I turned in and which I did not.
    • ‘Baby Mode’ allows you as a player to climb, swim, and glide without using up any stamina.
    • The text of Lil Gator is large and easy to read.
    • Camera closeness can be adjusted.
    • Missions are simple, but finding NPCs and remembering where they are without a reference can make it difficult.
    • You can invert the direction keys required for looking and aiming.
    • Holding down buttons for long periods is not necessary. You can toggle on/off the holding-down button settings if you have mobility issues. There is also no need to press and hold multiple buttons simultaneously.

    Is Lil Gator Game Worth It?

    While some may say the game is too short, what it lacks in time, it packs a punch in the feels of childhood reminiscence and the joy and magic we found in the mundane world as kids. Lil Gator Game is worthwhile in your library if you adore cozy, cute, nostalgic, no-pressure games.