Carl was running out of time to make his appointment but he couldn’t leave the coffee shop because that’s where Lucy was. He had just met her an hour ago. He wanted an extension. “Did you read the interview with this guy?” she said, tapping a picture of a newspaper on her phone. “I would love to make the world a better place, sure, like all billionaires. Malibu must be nice this time of year. World’s biggest helipad.” Carl was still amazed by the things that were common knowledge to others. “I mean, take off the broadcloth,” Lucy said. “We’re all just stones thrown into the water.” Carl tried to get in on it. “The thing is,” he said, “back in college I thought only about what I would do when I was out. Now it doesn’t seem like any of this is real.” Lucy was suddenly sober. She took his hand thrillingly. “My mother used to tell me that as soon as I got to know someone I found a distinction for them. That was my flaw, she said. But I see it in you now: it’s the willingness to be trapped in the past, in those dear dead days of recall.” She had a look in her eyes like she might kiss him and he wasn’t sure she was faking.
©2021 Ben Greenman/Stupid Ideas
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