The Circles

Soon after the forest fires were put out, I gathered my belongings and went to find Jonathan. I told him that in an emergency he should sit near the water near the rock under the shade where we used to spend our time.

He knew what that meant because we had done it so many times that we did not need proper nouns.

Jonathan and I met in a shopping center. We bumped into each other while we were browsing the frozen broccoli. You would be surprised at the difference in prices. I tripped on a piece of ice that was melting.

Ice is always doing that.

Melting.

That's what he said. And then we fell in love to a bucket of fried chicken. And then we fell out of love during a forest fire. But we still knew how to worry about each other and it was good that we had a plan for an emergency and when I found him by the water near the rock under the shade where we used to spend our time, I began to think about emergencies.

I began to think about what happens to love when you can see the end at the end of a hallway. When time becomes visible and you see it walking away from you all the time. Everything felt urgent and sudden and I was swallowed by the idea that this was it.