We Take a Few Minutes Before Clocking Out

"Come dance with me," you say, as you slink up the TV aisle. I shimmy down Documentary and meet you by Staff Picks. We sweep into a half-embrace, one set of arms protruding stiffly, tango-style. Coasting by Anime, you say, "Gimme today's greatest hits." I catalogue the shift with each pivot: "The computers crashed, another dude quit, we've been told to emphasize Religion. We don't understand the directive to 'Ban Karl Rove!'—language barrier? bad joke? At lunch I realized it's been three years since I returned Jacob's possessions after shrinkwrapping them in the storage room. Then it began to pour rain so we all ordered Empire Corner." Apologetic grins to the poor schmuck waiting to verify his credit card at the unmanned desk before we twirl away toward Sci-fi. We dip and lilt to an imaginary tune, a chimerical interlude against the backdrop of cowboys shootin' 'em up onscreen.

 

Veronica Liu is a New York City-based writer of emails and gchats. Her writing, photography, printmaking, and comics have appeared in Broken Pencil, Pax Americana , Promethean, Perennial, Asian Journal, among other journals and zines in Canada and in the US. She is the publisher of Fractious Press, an editor at Seven Stories Press, and a coeditor of the literary journal [sic].