H-- wants to take a trip. She’s been talking about it for a few days now. She called me tonight while I was out for a walk. She had ideas about a week at the beach. I countered with a weekend at the Smithsonian and she laughed. “You can be so funny,” she said.

     I wasn’t trying to be.

     H-- is smart and enjoys history so I thought she’d really like the idea, but she continued with the beaches. The Outer Banks. Clearwater. Myrtle. On and on she went. I had concerns about my phone battery.

     “I’d rather not go to any of those places,” I told her. “I don’t even own a bathing suit.”

     “Stop it,” she said. “I’m beginning to thi...

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