Just a few little stories for a busy world.
GOldie
Jesse never wanted a goldfish. He had asked his mother for a puppy for his birthday, and she had gotten him a hard glass bowl with the floating orange gawker—a thirty cent companion from Walmart.
He blinked at the fish, and it blinked back. And yet, when his brother had knocked it off the table to flop helplessly on the linoleum, Jesse had scooped it up in a panic. Once rescued, it did not purr or wag its tail in thanks.
But that was okay. Apparently, a thing didn’t have to love you for you to love it back.
The Office Clown
I squint for a moment, then my eyes widen with recognition. “Susan?” The garish orange clown pockets her juggling balls, her painted smile faltering, but I press on. “From accounting?”
Her shoulders fold in as she looks down her red nose at the ground, looking just like she did when I caught her eating a cheap tv dinner in her cramped corner cube yesterday. But in another beat, she straightens and puffs out her chest, jaw set with defiance before pulling a banana out from behind my ear and cartwheeling away.
Well, tomorrow’s staff meeting is going to be awkward.
Current Events
Nana sits me down at the table before bustling off to the kitchen. Glancing around, I notice The Mueller Report wedged underneath the table leg. “Nana, I can fix the table wobble for you.”
She shuffles back with a plate of cookies. “Don’t bother. I saved the book from the neighbor’s recycling, and now it’s actually doing some good.”
“I didn’t know you cared so much about current events,” I tease.
Nana doesn’t smile. “It’ll be hurricane season again soon, and I still have a tarp on my roof.” Her eyes sharpen. “These are the current events I care about.”
Hayley Reese Chow 