Temporary

by Hilary Leichter

Every office has a long-haired man who doesn’t trim his sideburns, who tells his coworkers things they don’t want to hear, who does a passable impression of a bird.

and she fell asleep there on the couch with a magazine in her lap opened to an article about how no one really wears the correct bra size, not really, not ever.

I try to find comfort with lying every day, practicing mostly on myself.

“This transaction,” he says, “is not open to your interpretation.”