Maid for Each Other

by Lynn Painter

“So I’m all in the zone when I hear, like, slipping. Like the sound of someone losing their footing. I turned around—I was smart enough to pause my treadmill first—just in time to see Dexxie fall and then get shot right off the back of his treadmill.” “Abi—” he interrupted. “Thankfully he was in the last row, so he hit the wall instead of another person, right? I mean, he’s a big boy—he could’ve really taken someone out.” His parents were laughing, the loud, head-thrown-back kind of laughter that couldn’t be faked. “So I jumped off my machine and ran over, asking him if he was okay as he lay there, all sprawled out like a big, clumsy puppy. His backside actually put a hole in the drywall, which must’ve hurt, but he was tough about it and climbed to his feet all on his own.”

HAH ABI-