Parasite

Conversation veers to love, marriage and relationships. You sense conflict, hurt and discontentment. You ask for the specific, I laugh and say it is boring and would take a long while. “Try me,” you urge.

My feet are white against the maroon velvet of the seat in front. Tired from a long day, missing friends and family, everything different, unfamiliar – people I long for, human touch. I shiver in the dark. Our shoulders barely touch but the heat between them comforts me.

We are awkward with each other at breakfast the next morning. A good night’s sleep and talking to loved ones – rested emotionally and physically, I don’t need you any more.

And it is daylight and the awkwardness of seeing each other again that alerts us to the connection we felt the night before, though we didn’t realize it then.