Silent Sympathy

I reached for my glass of water and knocked over the salt pot. I righted it, idly dabbling my fingers in the gritty pile that had spilled out.

Sky Alton
Writer, Gryffindor

“It’s awful,” Bryony informed me. She’d been twisting strands of pasta around her fork for the last 2 minutes and I was about ready to snap at her to just eat it. To distract myself, I folded my last slice of pizza in half and took a large bite.

“It sounds it,” I said after swallowing.

“I think he has it in for me,” Bryony went on. “He keeps moving the goal posts. So just when I think I’m ahead, he’ll remind me of some other bit of work I’ve never even heard of.”

I tapped my fingers on the wooden board my pizza had come on. I loved Bryony but you had to take everything she said with more than a grain of salt. She had a flair for the dramatic and was very capable of forgetting things she’d promised to do. I’d given up expecting her to buy milk or wipe the counters when we’d lived together.

“Your food’s getting cold,” I informed her.

She half-heartedly took a few bites.

“I’m seriously thinking about quitting.”

“You love that job,” I pointed out.

I reached for my glass of water and knocked over the salt pot. I righted it, idly dabbling my fingers in the gritty pile that had spilled out.

“Not when everyone there looks at me as though I’m a ticking time bomb,” Bryony shook her head and stabbed at a prawn. “It’s like they’re waiting for me to screw up.”

There were tears in her eyes and voice this time. Real? Or crocodile? I swirled my finger meditatively around on the table.

“To be brutally honest, I think your only option is to carry on as you are,” I told her. “Do the work your boss asks and do it as fast as you can. That way he can’t possibly throw stones.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she sniffled.

I glanced away to let her compose herself and heard her chair scrape back.

“Bathroom,” she said quietly and I listened to her walking away.

With a final swipe of my finger, I finished drawing the runes in the salt. Whether or not Bryony was exaggerating, a little spell of courage and good fortune couldn’t hurt.