Forties couple Stories

The phone buzzed on the counter like it had something urgent to say. I dried my hands on a dish towel and checked the screen. Dahlia. Shit. I snatched it up before the second ring could finish and headed down the hall. My mom’s voice drifted from the living room, something about a recipe she’d seen online. Dad was watching the news, volume too loud like always. “Hey,” I answered in a low voice, already stepping into my ro...

Like clockwork, I walked into my neighborhood Coffee Lounge at 7:45 am. There was the usual cast of characters who were there every weekday when I arrived: Bob the fifty-ish IBM guy, Julie the late twenties sorority girl insurance claims rep, Hank and Joe the two retired guys from the post office, and the blonde twenty-something surf dude who rarely talks to any of us. Bob calls him Spicoli, from the Fast Times at Ridgemo...