On a flybuzz afternoon in late June, the unshaven man in corduroy everything ashes into a shoe beside the bed. He takes another drag. He half hums, half sings "Fight this Generation." Outside he hears a car alarm. He looks through the blinds. Not his. An unopened letter rests on the night stand. He looks at it and then doesn't. His phone rings for the ninth or tenth time. He picks it up and throws it at the wall. Pieces with names like RF amplifier, microprocessor, and flash memory chip divide and shower onto the hardwood floor.
An hour and half a pack of cigarettes pass. She fiddles with her key in the door. A few failed turns then she walks into the living room, into the bedroom.
She looks at the broken phone.
"At least I told you," she says.
"I didn't read it."
"I don't care. I already told you. That was just to soften the blow, a nice thing."
"Look for the splinters. You might see where they come out."
"We already talked about this. You said you wanted to stay together. You know and I know this wasn't completely my fault."
"Yeah."
"Yeah? Yeah. Absolutely. You've got to take care of yourself. I said nice things in the letter."
"I'm not going to read the letter."
She opens the window by the bed to vent the smoke. There's another siren in the distance. Someone protected, someone hunted.
"Your life is selected," he says.
"So select yours, too."
He runs his fingers through his hair, pushing the matted mess out of his eyes.
"For you to have the life you want, I give up the one I want."
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We've already talked about this. We've already had this fight."
"I want to have it again."
"Why?"
"I just need to."
"You're saying the same things."
"Maybe in a general sense, but I feel like I'm saying them better."
"I'm not going to listen to you refine your arguments for the rest of my life. We already got past this."
"Already is a strange word."
She turns her back to him and heads into the living room. "Everything is strange when you think too much, when you refine," she says through the wall.
"It's something that happened before or something that came too soon yet sounds like something inclusive, all ready to fight, to die. It's strange."
"You're not ready," she says. "I'm going to stay at Amy's again tonight."
She doesn't slam the front door. She eases it closed, locks it, and leaves.
"All ready," he says to himself. "All ready."