YOU KNOW WHO I AM

       “Oh, I hope he does --- and if he doesn’t, well, he’ll have a reason soon enough. I assure you.”

        “Spoken as if I don’t already know this. Or have you forgotten about the collection of burnt out butts you’ve been leaving on my coffee table?”

      “Bread will also make him fat. He can’t be fat and named after me. I’ll feel bad.”

          “I mean, you asked.” A shrug and he drops the box -- none too gracefully -- onto the table. It’s all paper, after all, won’t break or anything. “I wouldn’t mind a hand sifting through it all, though I really should digitize them after this. God knows no one else will after I’m outta’ here.”

          “How dare you --- I would accept validation from anybody, don’t you know how desperate I am by now?” He’s picking something out of his eye while saying it, the other hand typing at a keyboard. “Also. I’ve done nothing. But I did take a picture of this bee yesterday, do you like it? I feel like it’s good.”