He smiles, writing his phone number on a rumpled piece of paper. “Call me if anything breaks.”

She walks with it in her pocket, his crisp penmanship something like a promise.

It’s in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, under a bright sky, that she calls to say, “I’m broken.”

Kathryn Trattner writes from the middle of the United States supported by three cats, two kids, and one husband. Her fiction can be found in various literary magazines. Find her at www.kathryntrattner.com.