"My Baby is coming home"

Absolutely no edits.

I should have been at work, but like all mornings, things had gotten out of hand, most specifically the time I left. I should not have been witness to their interactions, but either fortunately or unfortunately I was there. It was one of those conversations that you silence your iPod but leave the earphones in just so you can eavesdrop.

The plastic crinkled with chuckles as the little ceramic pumpkins grinned underneath - not suffocating, despite the warnings. "My baby is coming home," she exclaimed as though this justified her extensive Halloween purchases. They were an odd match. She with her lumpy body and hacksawed teeth, cleanly slanting from left to right. She lifted her arm to examine something in her armpit, perhaps an ingrown hair, regardless he helped her explore. He greeted everyone on the train when he boarded. His large arms barely straining against the two large speakers that had obviously been well tended since the early 70s. Their 99 cent store haul had been a success. They locked lips with a still passionate familiarity as though the novelty of their togetherness still had a few more months.

When the phone rang, she answered it in speaker phone mode. Her man was obviously trying to get a job of some kind. The woman on the phone claimed they needed to get a feel for his "vibe" before they set-up an in-person interview. Apparently, his vibe was just what they were looking for and they were ready to move this process along. "Do you have a pen and paper?" the voice through the phone sang in a tinny sing-song. The slanty toothed companion rummaged through her plastic bags of plastic bags and found a stash of pens and post-its. Dutifully, she transcribed the information from loud speakerphone voice to yellow post-it pad. As she scrawled, I began to wonder what she was like in the early classroom, learning to read and write. She seemed like the kind of woman who absentmindedly interchanged your and you're. I tried to imagine her as a still naive child without a man or a pile of cash to spend on Halloween toys. I tried really hard, and I just couldn't do it.