'so what are you going to do?'

her voice grated on my nerves. pinched my sinuses. invaded my head. when we first started dating, i wasn't planning on anything serious. just some company and some sex. a few months into it, i lost my job. my lease was up. i couldn't find work and i couldn't afford to keep paying the rent by myself. she had a big enough place, i told her i'd store my stuff there until i got back on my feet. she matter-of-factly accepted and one saturday she cleared out some space in an unused bedroom for the boxes i was moving in. i didn't have any furniture, just some clothes and some books. i figured that i would unpack just what i needed.

that was six months ago. i'm still living out of one box, haven't found a job (haven't really tried). last month, i told her that i was thinking about moving out. that a friend of mine mentioned that there was some work up north. i never called.

'so?'

by the look of resignation on my face, she knew i wasn't going to answer her question. i didn't have to. the look meant that i was going to stick around for another month. i didn't want to be here at all, let alone with her, but i didn't see that i had much choice. i guess that if i'd had more motivation to leave or even more energy, i would have. nope. i begrudgingly paid her my half of this month's rent to give to the landlord and went back to watching television.

Eventually, word got around and Abercrombie and Fitch caught wind of Bob's unique look. They bought the rights to it for an undisclosed sum, and Bob retired to Maui. Watch for it in the Fall 2003 catalog, right opposite the layout for preteen push-up bras.

He pondered this for a second but was not bright enough to follow through, or even to realize it did not make sense. "Why must I always be interrupted just when it's getting good?" With a look of resignation he paused the Lee Greenwood collection on iTunes and picked up his phone. "Sales and service, this is Larry."