Congratulations on Pinching Her a Few Too Many Times!

The slap will come suddenly and violently.

The fall will take far longer.

The instant on the edge of the cruise ship’s balcony will hang longer than both together: an infinite moment of potential change as you shift your weight slowly over the edge, involuntarily, unwillingly, unstoppably.

When you hit the water time will return to its normal flow, the churning wake, the cold seeping into you, the air failing your voice as you struggle to speak, to scream, to shout.

Your only thought, before the cold presses all thought out of you, will be the hope, feeble and fleeting, that she’ll tell someone else on the boat that she saw you fell, that maybe she won’t tell them why, and that hopefully they’ll come back to rescue you.

It’ll be fleeting, for the water will so very, very cold.

Congratulations on Pinching Her a Few Too Many Times!