What is your greatest fear?

It was desperate because of certain things, ingredients like my father being an alcoholic, my mother having too many babies in too short a time, no work available in Ireland, and even when my father did get a job he drank the wages. Then there was the harsh kind of schooling we had with school masters who ruled with a stick and then because of the overwhelming presence of the church, which imbued us with fear all the time. So it was fear, dampness, poverty, alcoholism, fear of the church, fear of the school masters, fear in general.

A bad death . . . fast or slow.

I don’t want to be lost and burn in hell.

I am petrified of bikini waxing. I had a very bad experience in 1978.

My lips are sealed.

Not waking up in the morning.

The loss of physical, financial, and psychological independence.

Losing my family in some way.

Dying in a plane crash and having somebody else get top billing.

Losing my mind and not knowing it.

That fear becomes too great.

Pain of any sort.

That we will drown in plastic waste.

That I might have to do a normal job.

My belief that saying it makes it happen.

Not working and not being able to continue to live this lifestyle.

That we won’t act fast enough to save the planet.

That I will suddenly lose my sense of humor, and everyone knows it but me.

That this is all there is, and there is no more.

To be abandoned.