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Liz didn’t want to go to gym, not after last night’s conversation with Barbara. Liz had mentioned Jim, hadn’t she, but she hadn’t meant to. It was… It was just an idle thought that crossed her mind. Why she had voiced it to Barbara last night, she would never know.

Liz had simply asked, “so, do you think we’ll see Jim at Gym tomorrow?”

The problem wasn’t in the question. The problem was that she had no reason to ask it. Well, no reason she could say to Barbara.

Barbara had immediately wanted to know why Liz thought he might not go. And Liz couldn’t think of anything to say. She needed something snappy and quick and convincing. Something like, “well last week he was saying that the instructor had bad breath and he might not come back because of it”. That would have worked because the instructor did have bad breath. Breath bad enough to stun an Eskimo at five paces. Or probably an Inuit these days.

But Liz didn’t think of that. All that kept popping into her mind was “well, with his piles”. Which wasn’t fair because, as far as Liz knew, he didn’t have piles. It was just the only excuse that she could think of. So she didn’t say that. She just left it hanging.

She just wanted to see Jim at Gym. That was all. And he was on her mind. That was all it was. But why did she have to let it slip to Barbara of all people? Did she want everyone to know? Or did she?

Well, that was something to think about.