Split Custody

by Cailín Frankland

She was of two minds, and in more ways than one—her parents’ divorce drove the rift between her brain’s hemispheres long before the surgeon called for a scalpel. A simple procedure, really—the skull drilled through, dura pulled back, axons carefully severed—her seizing neural clusters were neatly quarantined, the cognitive effects negligible. Cortices are hardy things, she learned. Marriages, less so.

​Her left brain led her public life, reducing her right self to a stowaway on her commute, an eavesdropper to her mother’s calls. Her right mind maintained ambivalence, cluttering her home with life-sized portraits of her father.

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CAILÍN FRANKLAND (she/they) is a British-American writer and public health professional based in Baltimore, Maryland. They live with their spouse, two old lady cats, a rotating cast of foster animals, and a 70-pound pitbull affectionately known as Baby. You can find them on Twitter/X as @cailin_sm.

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