Departures by Cole Scott

Author:Cole, Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

•

Elliott was sick in bed for the next three days. When he ran out of tissues, he blew his nose into strips of toilet paper. Then paper towels. Then washcloths. Then old socks.

On the fourth day, he finally felt well enough to go back out into the world. He wasn’t sure if he would make it all the way to work, but he was going to try. At the very least, he had to go buy some more tissues.

He stood, shivering, waiting for the bus. His earmuffs were in place, and his arms were crossed. Winter was really getting into its groove.

“Heyyyy! There he is!” announced Shelly. “I was starting to worry about you, old friend.”

“Oh, hi, Shel. Yeah, I’ve pretty much sick in bed since I last saw you.”

“Yeah, you don’t look so hot...heh, so to speak,” Shelly said with a chuckle as he stepped closer. “By the way, I got you something.”

Shelly reached a closed fist toward Elliott, paused for effect, then opened his hand to reveal a globe of bright red foam.

Elliott laughed.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m good.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Shelly said.

“I’ve been sick, though,” countered Elliott. “I wouldn’t want to—”

“That’s exactly why you need one of these,” Shelly said. “Don’t worry—it’s brand new. Never worn. I wouldn’t give ya any old leftovers, my friend, and I’m not expecting it back.”

“Well, thanks. What do I owe you?”

“Owe me? Nothing! It’s a gift!” Shelly said. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Besides, I get a deal on these now through that friend of mine.”

“Thanks again, Shelly.” Elliott was about to place the clown nose over his own, but noticed his bus approaching, so he tucked it into his pocket instead. “Take care.”

Shelly, wearing his own clown nose, waved to Elliott from the street, and remained standing there until the bus had pulled away.

On the bus, Elliott pulled the foam nose from his pocket and gave it a squeeze. Looking around the bus, he noticed two other people wearing them.

After purchasing two boxes of tissues and a to-go cup of vegetable barley soup, Elliott made his way to work and spent half the day there, before giving up and heading back home to bed. He hoped another full night’s rest would do the trick.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.