Photo by Sebastian Pociecha on Unsplash
A wishy-washy wave of partial kindness inflected itself within the row of syllables Matthew methodically released into the ear canal of the woman limbo-ed on hold. Matthew was well trained as a sales sort, to the extent that he trained others to mimic the party line of the company selling seashells to fishermen who knew better than to buy the Popeil Pocket Fisherman amounting to a lagging indicator of what was to come within the marketplace. The woman with her ear poised for content called herself Jean, but her real name was Marlene. She earnestly sat still listening to the music fill her sense of hearing where operatic flamboyance might have been. Matthew and Marlene had little in common except this curious transaction he hoped to have consummated prior to the noon break. As that time approached, Marlene aka Jean forgot why she called in the first place but was resigned to allowing him space before calling this interaction a lost cause.
Sheila E. Murphy‘s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Verse Daily, Fortnightly Review, Poetry, Lana Turner, Hanging Loose, and others. Most recent book: Escritoire (Lavender Ink, 2025). Wikipedia page can be found at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Murphy
