Page 58 of Back to You

The customers seated at the various tables looked confused, clearly wondering if they were expected to supply this hobby.

“What do you want to do?” Marcus said, rolling with it.

“I don’t know. But I’m boring, man.”

“You’re really not. I think what you mean is that you’re bored.”

“I am bored! I have nothing in my life but work and sitting on my ass at home. Didn’t I used to be fun? I feel like I was fun at some point.”

“You’re fun! In a very ‘fuck this’ kind of way.”

“Thanks?”

“Besides, you like to bake. That’s a hobby,” Marcus said, wiping down the counter.

“That’s my job, I need something to do in my free time so I’m not a boring old man.”

“Ever thought of learning a musical instrument?”

“I tried learning guitar in high school because I thought it would make me cool.”

“How did that go?”

“My instructor told my mom that he’d never met anyone else who could suck the joy out of music.”

Marcus laughed. “That’s amazing.”

“What about knitting? I could make sweaters for Barnabus.”

“You could. Oh, there’s always Rhonda and the old lady book club.”

“They are absolutely terrifying,” Brandon said.

“Come on, they aren’t that bad. Yesterday they discovered gay romance novels and now they’re all excited. It’s cute, in a loud way.”

Brandon shuddered.

“How about machine repair? You fixed Michelle’s vacuum that one time.”

“Yeah, that thing is toast. The only way to get it to run was to beat on it, and eventually it just gave up and died. Steven took a look when he got home and said he’d never seen a more fucked up piece of machinery.”

“I don’t know, man. You could volunteer somewhere.”

Brandon paused to think that over. “You know, the shelter where I got Barnabus is always posting online about how they need volunteers. I could do that.”

“There you go! You find fulfillment and get to help animals. Win-win.”

“Huh.” Brandon went back into the kitchen to look up the animal shelter’s information.

***

“This is not what I had in mind,” Brandon said.

“Why am I here again?” Michelle asked.

They both stared down at the shaggy dog who was staring back at them. The poor thing was absolutely filthy. And it was their job to wash him.

Brandon reached out and turned on the water, waiting to see what the dog would do. It continued watching him with soulful eyes, but didn’t really seem to care.

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