Each of them is given a dark robe to wear. A bulky chrysalis. Or a 
magician’s cape, behind which they are already changing.

The two sit down together. She remembers sleepovers at his house, 
and how later she could have talked to him on the phone all night.

Now he shouts too-loud jokes to friends, as if it’s not really the end. 
She clasps her hands, beginning to look away, to look ahead. Then 
it’s her turn to rise and walk to the podium. Suddenly light, expectant.

He holds on to her empty chair.

Her robe flutters around her like wings.

From Table for One, due out in audiobook format Summer 2025. Photo: Caleb Holden for Unsplash