Spoke Media

Hello, Ghost Family. Welcome to Family Ghosts.

Last summer, I went out to LA and I spent a few days with this writer and storyteller

whose work I have admired for years. His name is David Krab, and when I got to his apartment,

he told me this story from a couple years ago when he was feeling really depressed. A family

member named Charlie had died. And this happened right at the time that David and his husband

had to move out of their house. They didn't have very much notice about having to move,

didn't even really have time to look for a new place. So they were temporarily staying

at this friend's studio apartment in East Hollywood while she was out of town. It was

a small apartment, but it had this big picture window, which meant that she had a perfect

view of the building across the street, which happened to be the Church of Scientology.

I could just like lean in a window in my very depressed state and watch the Scientologist

in and out of the big blue building for hours on end. And it was really like watching

an ant farm of human beings. That's David. And at the time this was happening, David's

husband, Jack, was working a day job, which meant David spent hours on end alone in this

studio apartment. And he told me that he would just stare out this window.

And it was so bizarre watching them. They were like extras in a movie with no lead. You

know what I mean? Like Tom Cruise was not coming to set that day. They were just trapped.

And the crazy thing about it is that from my perspective, I would look at them and be like,

that must be nice. I would watch them and think, oh, this is how people join calls. Like

from this place of I have nothing, you know? At the end of the day, David's husband, Jack,

would come home from work. He would be like, how was your day? And I would express to him

...