His response flew out of his mouth like a reflex,
so swiftly that it was obvious he hadn’t had time to think.
He made a clumsy attempt to recover,
like men do,
but it was too late.
The rogue words had already been launched and the futile subsequent statement,
meant to intercept the first,
didn’t bring them back.
He pretends the words were benign, invisible and silent, hoping she hadn’t noticed,
but clearly she had.
She wants to pretend too, but doesn’t know how because she,
like women do,
sometimes thinks too much.
So now they’re stuck.
Minutes pass.
He has already forgotten his words,
like men do,
and does not know why her eyes are sad.
She,
like women do,
knows she has extraneously extrapolated his seemingly meaningless words into malintent,
but doesn’t know how to let them go.
Because,
she thinks,
perhaps the words had more meaning than he thought, having been fired from his gut they way they were.
You can follow me on Twitter: @CeceliaHalbert
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