Mardi came in from the kitchen carrying a tray. She stood still when she saw my face, then she put the tray down and came over. “What is it?”
I said I didn’t know. I said maybe there was a mistake or something.
She said, “But what is it?”
I showed her the rejection slips. She stood reading them, her brow wrinkled. “Perhaps they weren’t good enough,” she said at last.
I said I thought maybe that was it. But I knew it wasn’t. Something had gone wrong and I didn’t like it. I had been feeding these papers with stuff for years and they had grabbed everything I had given them. Now, without a word, they turned me down.
I said, “Listen, honey, we gotta go slow for a bit. I was banking on this stuff to get us by for a couple of weeks.”
She looked at me seriously, “You mean you are short of money?”
I shrugged. “Well, yes… I guess that’s about right.”
“Is that all? Are you sure that’s all?”
It was enough, but I didn’t want to worry her. “Yeah, that’s all… I’ll be just a little short.”