[continued from page 3]

VI. Let Me Share a Personal Story. The video states, “Most people do not like being belittled for characteristics which they cannot change.” I woke up next to Anna one morning in December a little over a year ago. It was overcast outside, so the sun didn’t wake me, and I fell out of my dreams to the gentle scraping of Anna’s lips against my chest. I wanted to stay in that moment for a while, half awake, half asleep. I wanted to save the moment for later, pull it out when I was tired and sad.

I look up. Nine faces are staring at me. They’re staring at me like you stare at a car crash on the highway. Static sizzles up the screen. The video has ended. When did the video end? My breath quivers. I say, “OK, great.” I turn off the television and hit the lights. The burst of halogen burns my eyes white.

I look at Penny. She’s no longer glowing. She’s blinking white. She isn’t looking at me.

“Any questions?” I ask.

“Yeah, I got a question,” Danny says. “So, in the video, they say you can’t sleep with someone who’s below you in the company if they don’t want to sleep with you, right?”

“You can’t sleep with anyone who doesn’t want to sleep with you, you schmuck,” Smith says.

“Shut up, man! I’m not done. OK, but what if the woman below you actually wants to sleep with you?”

My mouth goes dry.

Smith says, “If the woman’s below you, I sure hope she wants to sleep with you.” He cackles like a crow outside a closed window, trying to get attention the only way he knows how.

We will take the test now. Everyone will pass.

Johannes Lichtman is pursuing his MFA in fiction at UNC Wilmington. This is his first published story.

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