he pulled into the parking lot at the market

                                                  Pretty empty tonight

Empty. Yes.

he stoppedparked

   Do you have to make me uncomfortable?

he halfturnedfaced her was restricted by the seatbelt harness

                                                                    How am I making you uncomfortable

Don’t give me that.

                       You know.

An yaknow me to ask if I know something

she twisted asif a hooked worm

No You know me if I know I do not ask

                                           So

How am I making you feel uncomfortable

she motioned her head to the windowshield to the emptiness outside the car

                                                                                 There.

There

         Theres a whole lotta nothing there

Look at the lines.

The lines

Yes.

   The painted white lines

Yes.  They designate parking spaces.

An wha of em babe

You’ve not parked between themyou’re straddling spaces.

Theres plenty of room We stopped for milk cereal fruit for the kids lunchbags well take all of fiveten minutes

                                                                                                                  Do you think the lots gonna fillwell piss someone off by taking spacesfacing in the wrong direction

That’s why the lines are painted. To organise . . the vehicles.

                                                                There’s a right way and a wrong way. You’re purposely disregarding them, their order.

Yaknow babe Ive known you for yearsYears   Since you were a teenager

                                                                               You werent an I don think you are obsessivecompulsive  Not until you started seeing this psychologist

She’s a doctor who cares about mecares about what I think . .

. . Who you pay I pay we have paid for a yea . .

. . It’s not been a year.

Its been a  year

                   I keep the books now thayave turned them over to me You want receipts yawanna see in black and white

Come on Lets get wha we stopped for

I don’t think so.

No

I don’t think so.

No  Okay

           Well  Im not leaving you here twisting because I defied lines The kids can buy their lunch at school tomorrow

he started the car

   You’re cruel, you’re terribly cruel.

When you see your doctor tomorrow be sure you inform her of this episode  The empty lot  Lines   My cruelty

Don’t tell me what to do.

Im sure yawont forget to tell her tha

1854,  Saturday,  6  1. 24