> “Someone in there is taking a mean shit,” Lory said yesterday and the comment just stuck. The AR office used to share a bathroom with another suite of offices filled with women filing insurance claims. They had a bathroom all to there own, but for some reason they always used the one that was suppose to be “ours.” Well, those ladies have our systems on some kind of timer, b’c every time one of us has to go. And I mean, really go it’s always occupied. I wanted to use the phrase, mean shit, in another way. like referring to one’s heinous actions as “that’s some mean shit she just pulled.”

>”I need a man. Maybe I’ll move to Armenia and find me one.” This was said by a colleague of mine recently.

I was packing at the time, and it kind of caught me by surprise. The way she said, what she was doing, it just felt so out of place. She was siting on the steps that lead to the roof at our office. She pulled out her pack of cigarettes and smoked one inside. It was her last day there and she obviously didn’t give a shit. I didn’t mind it. She kept blowing the smoking towards the editor’s desk.

“Maybe I’ll move to Armenia.” she said again, more to herself then to me. I kept on with my packing and tasks at hand. “But first, I need a man.” she said again.

It was such a bold statement I didn’t know how to respond. So I didn’t and instead tried to change the subject. She had never talked so openly about her sex life before and I didn’t want her to start now. Her last day here. Making up for lost times I guess. For not being able to share with me as much as I shared with her. Feeling that maybe I could help her in some way. I don’t know.

“Do you have someone in mind?” I asked realizing she wanted to talk about it.

“No. But they have to be highly intelligent.” She was a Harvard graduate and had a law degree. Of course he had to be smart. maybe even genius level. She looked at the Editors desk and flicked an inch of ash that way. “There is one person who I have a small crush on. But I’ve had a crush on him ever since I was a kid.” she said, almost blushing.

“Well, what’s the hold up? Come on, seal the deal!” I said.

“He’s much older.”

“So?”

“And he’s married.”

I didn’t know what to say after that. I went back to my packing. She was staring out the window as the train passed by. She finished her cigarette and went back to what she was doing before.