CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
“You look familiar. Do you work for my father? He’s a very important man.”
“No, Clara. I am your husband, we’ve been married 43 years and I never knew your father. He died before we were married.” He said the same thing twenty or thirty times a day. By now it was involuntary, like breathing. He figured his hypothalamus had the I am your husband speech hard-wired into it by now.
“La lala laa oh danny boy, the pipes are piping.”
“Look, just forget the damn socks. Today, we wear flipflops.”
“Mmm--you said a bad word. That’s not allowed in this house young man.”
He slipped the rubber thongs on her feet. More often than not they were the go-to footwear for the day. Easy on, easy off. Socks and shoes posed extra challenges he didn’t need in his life. He wiped his forehead on his sleeve and sat beside his wife on the bed. She giggled when the mattress bounced and kicked her feet like a four-year-old.
The thong on her left foot fell off.
He left it there….