3

3

“Oh Darry, he's got a temper.  I'll call the Peacock later to make sure he’s alright.” Mee Maw said to no one in particular.

“Who are you calling?” Winnie tried to seem interested in keeping up.

“Let's get ready and head into town.” Vivian ignored his question and moved to help him from his chair.  The two struggled out the door and Winnie held himself up by the rusted metal railing on the front porch while Vivian turned around to lock the door.

“I’ll be more careful next time I park.” Winnie saw the van parked haphazardly.

“Don't worry, it wasn't you.”

“Oh.”

The engine mumbled and they scraped off the sidewalk, starting down the street.  Vivian ejected a disc from the radio that had ‘Darius’ Mental Soundwave Stimulants’ written in red, cherry scented magic marker.

“Can you put on the FM?” Winnie asked and Vivian switched on the radio and turned a dial.

“Hit the road, Jack and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more!” Winnie closed his eyes and joined the chorus swaying side to side.  Vivian turned to see him singing, smiling, and happier than they’d been in years.  Seeing him happy brought memories of their early years, when she could bring him this joy.  She started to hate his face. She started to hate his voice. She hated that he could sing every word, but not her name.  A black shadow of reality consumed her.

“I have a headache.” She turned the radio off, but started to regret doing so.

Winnie looked out the window.

“Where are we headed?”

“To get your pills.”

Her fingers tapped on the steering wheel with impatience and then moved to switch the turn signal into the parking lot.  

“I’ll be back.”  She shoved the prescription into her purse and walked up to the store.  Maneuvering her way to the drop off window, she made eye contact with an old employee and friend of Winnie’s, with whom they weren't close by any means, but the eye contact was strong enough to require acknowledgement.

“Hey, Vivian!”

“Oh! Hi Brett, it's been a while!” Five years to be exact.

“How’s the family?” He moved his hand to his hip, showing that the conversation would be longer than a hi to a hey.

“We’re doing well! Susan is still in Arizona and Darius is all-”

“What about the old Win? How is Winnie?” He interrupted excitedly.

“Oh, Winnie is doing great!  He has been… you know…” The only thing that came to her mind was Winnie slouched and weak at the table, playing solitaire on his iPad for hours a day “...working around the house alot on things.”

“Typical Winnie, always staying busy.  Speaking of which, is he still contracting?”

“Yes it’s going well and he’s fine!” The fewer that know, the better, she thought.

“We’ll have to catch up sometime, great seeing you!”

“Yes! It was great! I’ll tell Winnie you said hi, he will love to hear it!”  She continued back to the counter, still thinking about the interaction. Safeguarding Winnie’s condition was a chain and a ball growing in size.  She tunneled through the scattered insides of her purse for the script and heard the cashier say:

“Memory’s getting hard?”

“What? No! He is fine!” Her eyes flared and she almost yelled from surprise.

“I said ‘Do you have your Membership card?’”

“Oh! Goodness yes, here you go.” She handed her the card, the prescription, and the woman scanned a box of donuts she had picked out.  When she returned to the car, Winnie was where she left him, only half asleep.

“Guess who I ran into in there.” Her voice startled Winnie.

“Who?”

“Brett Williams.”

“Is that right? What a coincidence!” His thumb tapped.

“Yep, sure was excited to hear about you.”

“Good, we can have her over for dinner sometime to catch up.” His thumb tapped.

“She is a he.”

Winnie watched the trees and streetlights pass, trying not to disappoint his wife for the rest of the drive home.