The Stand-In

by Lily Chu

I’m on the receiving end of an eye roll that would put a sulky teenager to shame and bite my lips together to keep from laughing.

My smile hasn’t slipped and I managed the Running of the Photographers, safer but somehow more intimidating than the bulls of Pamplona.

You should never be a satellite orbiting your own life.

I grip the glass with numb fingers, hearing Sam speak in the disembodied, unintelligible voice of a Charlie Brown adult.