Chapter 80 · Month 39 · Starting a Family

The Long Walk

A test on the sink and the decision to wait

Oldest line first — the newest line is at the bottom.

      
            Penny
            teacher
            06:52
          
Come off the path a second — there's a bench and I've got something I've meant to say since last Tuesday. The test on the sink: I wasn't deciding anything, I just didn't want another week of us not saying it.

            Algy
            designer
            06:53
          
Sorry — since Tuesday. I heard "Tuesday" and panicked about the bins, which is the least romantic sentence I've ever thought. Say it. I'm not going to make a thing of it.

            Penny
            teacher
            06:54
          
Bins are Tuesday, yes, thank you, that's the romance. What I want to know is whether you actually want this or whether you're taking it because it's the only funded thing on the table.

            Algy
            designer
            06:56
          
I want it — not because it's funded, because it's eight months where I'm not choosing invoices over you. So: I'll sign the form Friday, tell Mum the $1,840 tonight, and I'm not leaving that sink test sitting there to mean something it doesn't. Which is this: we wait, we try, and I say it out loud instead of buying shortbread.

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What the audience made of it

Algy 0 Penelope 0 Both 0 0 votes

The next chapter opens with these numbers on the table. The character with fewer votes is expected to demand a recount.

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