Mary And The T-shirt

Mary was left thinking "how did we get here"? And she analyzed the past to figure that out.

She figured it all started with that t-shirt. The one on the man jogging in the park. It read "I'm so miserable without you, it's like having you here". At first she just laughed at it but then she wrote it down to not forget it. She wanted to tell Craig about it later. He would think it was funny and maybe even slightly poetic.

She went on with her afternoon. She shopped for books with Susanna and they ate ice cream together, she called her Mother who lived in Pensacola, she made a turkey pot pie from scratch for her and Craig to eat for dinner.

She was dusted with flour when Craig walked in. He laughed at her.

"Babe, you look so silly"
"Hey, making a pot pie is harder than I thought"

And they smiled at each other and then embraced. Craig was an illustrator. He worked on children's books mostly but had aspirations of one day writing and illustrating his own book instead of being a hired gun. Mary didn't know any of this and thought he was content. There were a lot of things about Craig that Mary didn't know. After she set the oven timer for 40 minutes and cleaned herself off they ate.

"I'm sorry if the crust is too dry"
"It isn't dry, hon. It's wonderful"
"Oh!", Mary then said, as if shocked.
"I forgot to tell you about the weirdest t-shirt I saw today"
"What was it?"
"It was...something like if you think I'm miserable with...wait, that's not it. I don't want to butcher it. I wrote it down. Let me get the paper"

He waited as she got up and pulled the scrap of paper from the bottom of her PBS tote bag. She then stated, in a proud voice, "I'm so miserable without you, it's like having you here".

"Huh?", said Craig and she repeated it.

Then she said, "isn't that weird? For a t-shirt?"

"Yeah. It is weird alright", he said before laughing slightly.

"How's about some dessert?", Mary asked.
"Sure. What were you thinking?"
"Cookies"
"Do we have any ice cream?"
"I don't think so. I had ice cream earlier though"
"Well, I didn't"
Mary then feigned aggravation and said, "God, Craig. I'm so miserable without you, it's like having you here" jokingly.

Craig suddenly burst into tears and said "we need to talk".

Two F's and Two E's

"How do you spell coffee?"
"Two F's and two E's"
"Ok. Thanks"
"Why are you asking?"
"Crossword puzzle"
"You and your puzzles!"

She smiled when she said this. He loved his puzzles.
She rubbed his shoulders as he took a deep breath.

"Excited for your trip, babe?"
"Of course. Of course"

The next morning he left on a hunting trip. He woke up far earlier than any human being ever should and forced himself to drive to Bill Monroe's house. They'd talked about going hunting forever. Ever since they both became obsessed with "Big Buck Hunter" at a pub by Bill's place they fancied themselves amateur hunters. Diamonds in the rough.

"What if we see a sasquatch?"
"You mean bigfoot?"
"Haha. Get real, Bill"
"I watched this special on the history channel though. Them shits is real"

He just rolled his eyes at this as the men piled in his pick-up truck and pulled out onto the foggy highway. Bill lit a cigarette as they rolled over a hill as the sun crept up over the horizon.

"Did you eat breakfast?"
"No. Did you?"
"Nah. Let's stop off somewhere"
"Ok"

The men pulled into a drive-thru and ate sausage and egg sandwiches as the sun fully rose. Bill grew warm and took off his large plaid coat.

"This coffee tastes like shit"
"You know how to spell coffee, Bill?"
"C-O-F-F-E-E"
"Yeah. Two F's and two e's. I always thought it was only one e"
"Spelling ain't your strong suit"

The men laughed. Bill lit another cigarette.