26 november

This is why he was checking his phone. This is why everyone else was checking their phones. Not because his wife would apologize to them -- or anyone, at any time, for any reason. But because something might happen suddenly. For better or for worse -- and suddenly the rest of those standard marriage vows filled the rest of the sentence -- for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health: anything could happen, and life might change in an instant.

He looked up. Everyone else was looking down. Suddenly someone caught his eye. And gave it back. End of interaction. The crowd shifted, and that someone was gone. It had been a familiar face. A man? He wasn’t even sure. It didn’t matter. The eye had been returned.