The Bookmark

Management took a novel to the reading evening. We had recommended it at several meetings.

Our receipt was about three quarters of the way through.

A woman at the table was reading a comic. The man beside her had a book of knots and a piece of string.

“Is there a discussion?” we asked.

“Only if you want one,” said the woman. She turned the page.

At our receipt, a man had been murdered.

We went back a page to find out who he was. Then another.

We began at the beginning.

When the cups began to move, we were on page nineteen.

We put the receipt there.

At the coat hooks, we put on our coat and moved the receipt back to its old place.

We kept one finger at page nineteen all the way home.