“Don’t stand too close to the counter, or a spider might come bite your toe,” she tells me as I get ready to wash the dishes.

“Are you serious?”

She stops and gets that real hard thinking look in her eyes.

“Nah. If you wear sneakers you should be fine.”

Valarie Bradshaw is a nomadic mother who just graduated from college and spends her days in her pajamas writing all the stories that swim in her head. Her family is very patient.