Burning at Both Ends, by DM Kraft   Forget about the Sea of Tranquility. I’m foundering in the even greater sea of pandemonium.  I can’t quite remember how I got here, but I’m here now, and there’s no land in sight.  I’ve lost track of all the things I’m supposed to do.  My “to-do” list?  That’s a laugh!  It got so long the last thing I managed to write on it was “help! I can’t get any of this ‘to-done’!”  And now you expect me to just drop everything and follow after you like an eager Labrador Retriever, ready to retrieve whatever you throw my way?  Well, I’m not biting this time!  Okay, maybe I’m biting, but not the way you expect me to.  Yeah, baby, this dog bites!  Who am I kidding?  Not you, of course.  Never you.  You could sniff out a baseless boast, a half-truth, a half-baked story or a full-fledged lie like a hound dog tracking down escapees.  I’m an escapee, all right.  Trouble is, I’m not too sure what I’ve escaped from – or what I wish I’d escaped from – or what I should think about escaping from. So what am I, the dogged escapee or the dog?  Maybe I’m both.  That’s what I feel like anyway, like some stupid dog chasing myself around in a circle.  What’s that got to do with you?  You even have to ask?  I’m hurt; I really am.  Don’t you know by now that you expect me to drop everything because you know I will?  Of course, I will.  That’s what friends do. So my “to-do” list gets so hot it catches fire.  So what?  Big deal. There’s just one thing I expect from you – and I expect it of you because I know I’ll get it from you: Stand ready with the hose to make sure I don’t burn out completely.  Deal?