A person should never slurp tartar sauce. Ever. Clara tongues the edges of her fish sandwich, moves the brittle pieces of batter like lose teeth until they drop onto the table between us.
Should we just switch? You go to Sam’s and I make the Lexington trip?
I don't care, she says. You can handle Sam’s endless prattle better than I can, though, and you know how you hate the drive to Lexington. Things are okay like this.
It was never suggested we go together, first to Sam's and then to Lexington. Without saying it, we both thought that option a drab thing, a limp possibility, a draining thing. Watching the clock, I hear her say again, Things are okay like this.
Sheldon Lee Compton survives in Kentucky. His work has appeared most recently in Negative Suck, >kill author and BLIP Magazine. More of his work can be found at Bent Country.
Archived at http://girlswithinsurance.com/index.php/prose/micro/288-sc-1010-us and shortlinked at http://frsh.in/fg
