Cooking Wine

Alan was a block away from Steve's Grocery Market when he noticed the crowd of people on the street corner by the entrance. They were all staring in the same direction and muttering to themselves.

 

He took a place among them, mimicking their stance and attitude. Down the street there were fire trucks, police cars and an ambulance, all of whose flashing lights illuminated the sides of the flanking buildings.

 

He waited for someone to mutter something telling, but only got an assortment of "damn," "phew,"and "holy shit."

 

"What's this all about?" He asked a heavy black man in a red windbreaker and baseball cap.

 

"The man up and jumped."

 

Alan looked up to the top floor of the mall that formed one of the walls of the scene. The Nordstroms' had a balcony, and was bathed in the red and blue lights of the emergency vehicles below.

 

"You can see the body bag." The man in the windbreaker pointed, and Alan saw between the feet of the various officers and paramedics populating the sidewalk, a portion of what looked like a cross between a garbage bag and a strait jacket.

 

Alan watched a little longer, and realizing that nothing more was going to happen, turned around and passed through Steve's' automated sliding doors. He had that feeling he got when he was in trouble at work. He remembered that time not so long ago when he had considered doing something similar. The memories made him sick.

 

 

What was it he needed? Oh yeah, cooking wine for Beth!

 

 

Beth got home later than Alan. She was skinny, and had a long face with thin lips and a prominent nose that most found plain, but Alan thought was attractively angular. She was in a black knee -length shirt and a blue oxford button-down.

 

"What are you watching?"

 

"Twin Peaks. Haven't seen this shit in forever. " He hit pause on the remote. "How was work?"

 

"Blah, blah, blah." She was often sardonic when work didn't go well. "Not much to say."

 

"I got that cooking wine you like." He was never great with words, but was pleased with the shrewdness of his timing in this case. She looked at him and paused before slowly curling her thin lips into a smile.

 

"I knew it. You are Superman." She said with playful faux levity. She walked toward the cupboard where they kept cooking wine when they had it. "What about you? Anything interesting today?"

 

"Nah, not really." He felt like there was something, but couldn't remember what it was.