I was sitting on the couch watching Pandora type away on her laptop while pretending I wasn’t curious about what she was working on. Every few seconds she would smile to herself, pause as though weighing the perfect word, and…
There are days when my imagination deserves a timeout, and this was one of them. Pandora had stopped by that morning for breakfast before heading back to her apartment, bringing her laptop so she could answer a few work emails…
There are moments when I know I’m overthinking something, and then there are moments when I recognize I’m overthinking something while continuing to do it anyway. This particular afternoon firmly belonged in the second category. I had spread my presentation…
I was halfway through making my morning coffee when I noticed Pandora’s favorite mug sitting on the kitchen counter. That might not sound unusual, but if you knew Pandora, you’d understand why it stopped me in my tracks. She had…
There are some mornings when your brain quietly eases into the day. You make a cup of coffee, open a window, enjoy a few peaceful minutes, and gradually become a functioning member of society. Then there are mornings like this…
I was halfway through my first cup of coffee when I noticed something that immediately felt wrong. The apartment was quiet. Not unusually quiet, exactly. Mr. Whiskers was sitting on the windowsill watching birds with the kind of concentration normally…
Breakfast should be one of the least complicated parts of the day. You crack a couple of eggs, put some bread in the toaster, make a cup of coffee, and spend a few peaceful minutes pretending the world isn’t already…
I’m sitting in the living room watching Mr. Whiskers attempt the impossible. John bought him an expensive cat bed last month, yet he’s completely ignored it in favor of trying to squeeze himself into a cardboard box that’s barely larger…
The coffee was almost ready when I happened to glance out the kitchen window and noticed Mrs. Jenkins standing in hers. Now, that wasn’t unusual. Mrs. Jenkins has always treated the front window as though it were a front-row seat…
I was sitting in the living room when something felt…off. At first I couldn’t put my finger on it. The apartment looked exactly the same as it had yesterday. John Mercer was reading a book in his chair, Mr. Whiskers…
I was making toast that morning when something immediately felt wrong. The loaf of bread we’d bought the day before was already stale. Not completely stale, mind you. It wasn’t the sort of bread you could use as a doorstop,…
I was sitting in the living room one afternoon when I noticed Pandora’s purse beside the coffee table. That wasn’t unusual by itself. Pandora visited often enough that finding one of her belongings in the apartment wasn’t exactly rare. What…
I was making tea in the kitchen when I noticed Pandora’s favorite mug sitting on the counter. At first, I didn’t think much of it. Then I remembered it had been sitting in exactly the same spot the night before.…
I was halfway through making a sandwich when I noticed Pandora’s phone sitting on the kitchen counter. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t have meant much. People forget their phones all the time. The problem was that Pandora wasn’t one of…
I was standing in the kitchen trying to make breakfast and a halfway decent cup of coffee when I first started paying attention to John Mercer’s snoring. Normally I can tune it out. After living with someone for years, certain…
I was standing in the kitchen making toast this morning when I first noticed something was wrong. Not with the toast itself—that part was going surprisingly well for once—but with everyone around me. Pandora had stayed over the night before…
Pandora left her hair tie on my desk this morning, and I didn’t think much of it at first. It’s one of those plain black elastic hair ties that seems to spend more time on her wrist than in her…
I was halfway through making breakfast when my phone buzzed. Karen had canceled our plans. The message itself was perfectly normal. Sorry, Hal. Family emergency. Rain check? That should have been the end of it. People cancel plans all the…
I’m standing in the kitchen staring at the coffee maker, and I’m almost certain it’s making a different noise than it did yesterday. Not a huge difference. Nothing dramatic. Just enough to make me pause in the middle of pouring…
I was halfway through making my second cup of coffee when I noticed that John Mercer hadn’t moved in at least twenty minutes. He was sitting on the couch staring at his phone with the kind of concentration usually reserved…
