Adipose-Rex

Was Owen acting differently lately? It was a month after the school year had kicked off, the initial rush and feeling of unspoiled freshness – now combined with Ada’s excitement to start P-FOST – given enough time to begin dying down. In its place the at-times contemptible familiar was settling in (already she despaired of English and History essays), the passage of time transitioning from days divided by empty afternoons and slothful weekends into a blur of school, homework, sleep and whatever Ada could accomplish in her off hours. And as time lost definition it, paradoxically, moved slower, everything falling into routin

(A couple days in the future) July fifth, hotter than July fourth but no trip to the lake today to look forward to. Owen was in the basement, lying in a claw foot bathtub his dad kept promising to haul out but never did. It was cool there, and kind of dark. He looked at his phone. HEARD BACK YET? His thumb hovered over Send. Has the mail gone by yet? Was Ada at home? Was she aware if it had gone by? Maybe it was too early to be bugging her. She was already worried, no doubt, and Owen wouldn’t be helping by pestering her. But man, he wanted to talk to her. Summer was dragging, which Owen knew was a blessing (only two years left of h