Paper-based billing, unlike automatic bank transfer,<\/em> At the supermarket, only two cash registers\nare operating. After evaluating the customers and cashiers, trying to guess\nwhich line will move faster, Beatrix Sakakino tentatively chooses the one on\nthe right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is the world mist?<\/em> she wonders. Or am I the mist?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She remembers his hands. His elbows. His\nsubstantial shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I\u2019m only proud of\nmyself when I\u2019m quiet, why can I never stay quiet?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n His skin smelled like tobacco. His breath when\nasleep was irregular and turbulent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Am I doing the same\nold thing for a brand new reason?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She has come to buy milk\u2014that\u2019s her pretext,\nanyway. The walk from her apartment was refreshing. The year is just warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does another person\u2019s\nshame give me the right to behave shamefully?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She likes her neighborhood. It\u2019s a quaint\nstreet, a mix of tiny shops and modest homes. It all has to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Should I hate him? Am\nI in love with being in love? Is self-destruction really so romantic?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The year will run out. Winter always comes\nback. And she\u2019s going to leave this neighborhood. She wants<\/em> to\u2014it\u2019s a great comfort to plan to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Am I just a pocket of\nlukewarm air?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes the least painful way to leave\nsomebody is for them to leave you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do people really mix\ntheir souls together?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A look at the other cashier\u2019s line shows that\nit\u2019s moving faster than hers. Which gives her a moment longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I never have.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dale Stromberg studied writing with the novelists Richard Bankowsky and Doug Rice in Sacramento, and lives in Malaysia now with his family. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Martyr\u2019s Palm Paper-based billing, unlike automatic bank transfer,compels one to decide whether to do what one must. At the supermarket, only two cash registers are operating. After evaluating the customers and cashiers, trying to guess which line will move faster, Beatrix Sakakino tentatively chooses the one on the right. Is the world mist? she … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-sB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1773"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1777,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions\/1777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
compels one to decide whether to do what one must.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n