“When I was a kid,” a friend said not long ago, “I thought cats were female and dogs were male.”

“Did you ever, uh, look at them?” I asked. “I grew up on a farm. The relevant anatomy was displayed pretty regularly.”

“I’m a preacher’s daughter,” she said. “From the city.”

“I forget that about you,” I said. “What about invisible friends?”

“Only one. I gave him up pretty early.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Dad never did, though. He still has an invisible friend who lives in the sky.”

“Lotta people have that friend,” I said.

“Doesn’t make him real,” she said.

Bonus Story: First Dose Problems, or The Privilege of a Sore Arm

© Copyright 2021 by Jim Latham

Photo by visuals on Unsplash