Daily, 5:45

She wants to talk about her day.
Conversing with an adult human
who isn’t on a screen
would be a welcome change.
But this particular human
is quite obviously grumpy,
burying himself in brainless comedy;
laughing in a way that somehow
comes across as  
mean-spirited.
 
He probably had a rough day.
She’d like to ask about it,
but lately her curiosity
and attempts to start conversation
seem to be received as some sort of
inquisition  
or intrusion.
 
So, she silently stirs the soup.
In her mind, she talks to him;
the imaginary one…
Curled in his arms,
she tells about how her entire project
was restructured for Covid again,
and he knows what she means
because he listened the last time,
so she doesn’t have to explain it all over
like she would to a complete stranger.
She mentions the performance review,
where she was shocked that the boss
rated her so much higher than she rated herself.
He just smiles
and says  
he’s really not surprised.
 
Her nose jerks her out of the reverie.
Pulling the too-dark biscuits from the oven,
she scowls and thinks,
good thing there’s no performance review  
for this damn job.