“You get the good stories, though. I just get a lot of mediocre ones.” Vera stabbed another bunch of spinach with her fork as she spoke, and took care to not let the strawberry vinaigrette drip on the shell of her new ivory sweater set.

She loved eating outdoors almost as much as she loved sunglasses and their wondrous ability to hide her eyes. Okay, okay, so even as that last remark came tumbling out of her mouth, she knew it wasn’t true. Not a whole truth, anyways.

Sometimes Vera hungered for Adele’s life. At moments it seemed simpler, easier to handle, and from that vantage point all of Adele’s stories were good. Her days were mostly quiet, but excitement came in gusts like the wind and in a flash her whole life was aflutter with freshness. Such was not the case for our Vera…