Soy Sauce for Beginners

by Kirstin Chen

It was a simple smile, involuntary—the kind of smile you flashed at a toddler wearing a funny hat—and in spite of myself, I smiled back.

Suddenly I felt impossibly tired, impossibly old.

“A blast,” I agreed, though with each passing second, I could feel my mortification swell inside me.

Our conversations were pleasant yet hollow, much like the sex.

Once the needle got going, all you had to do was keep time.

“Tell her it doesn’t matter how fast or how slow as long as she keeps time.”