Issue 1 - Quiet by Margaret and Steven Mendel

Quietly.

Don’t wake her. I get out of bed. Up again in the middle of the night. I turn on the TV. Watch until I get tired. I go back to bed she’s standing in the hallway, two old lovers in the dark.

“I missed you,” he says. He touches her. There are no inhibitions in the dark, especially for old lovers. He takes her arm and brings her back to bed.

They hold each other and fall asleep.

He gets up again. He looks at her side of the bed. It’s empty.

The next night, quietly he gets out of bed and waits in the hallway. Nothing. After an hour of TV he climbs into bed and rolls over. There she is.

She takes his hand.

“I’m ready,” he says.

His breathing becomes softer

and softer

and softer

and…