Earnestly Charles looked through his papers, 7 sheets of card stock with one word on each. Each had a color scribbled below the word, and most had little doodles.

“Whatcha doin, Charlie?”

“Hmm? Oh, I’m picking a sin.”

After a slight pause, Ellen clarified, “You’re picking a sin?”

“Yeah. You know, one of the 7 deadly ones.”

“Um, sure, figured that one out. Do you have to write a paper or…” She left the sentence dangling for him to finish.

He obliged, “I’m deciding which one to work on.”

Another pause, then, “Charlie, that’s sweet and all, but you’re, like, one of the most saintly guys I know.”

Sighing under the library’s dim, yellow light, he conceded, “I know. That’s why I’m picking one to work on.”

“But you’re already saintly. Why do you need to work…unless…oh jeez, Charlie!”

“What?”

“They aren’t in a list to pick one to start doing!”

“Why not? What if I’m tired of being saintly? It’s not as fun as you might think.”

“Charlie.”

“Yeah, E?”

“You’re a weird guy.”

“Yeah, I know.”