That (10 minutes) come ’round at last….
The word of the day is Megillah (long involved story or account, or everything involved in what is under consideration)
The Whole Ball of Wax
Tracy knew he didn’t like Sarah the moment he saw her with Abdu. He’d come upon the two of them sitting on a bench facing the reservoir in Central Park. Abdu was pointing at something beyond the fence; a bird or something else splashing at the slick surface of the water. She wasn’t looking at what he was pointing to. She was looking at Abdu and she was smiling. To think back it was that smile which set him at tension. He’d been jogging, a hobby he picked up from Abdu–one he’d gotten good at, if anyone can be considered good at jogging. When he saw her toothy smile he came to a dead stop. It wasn’t one of those moments where you see a person and the smile stops at a point short of their eyes. This smile curved past her eyes; through them and on up to the temples. It was a shark’s smile, a wolfish smile, and the first thought that lanced through his head was, “What the hell is she doing to my friend?”
With some effort he got his feet moving again and approached the pair. He slowed again when he was close, feigning surprise. “Abdu?”
“Tracy, my friend! I thought you were still in bed!”
Tracy nodded and said, “I thought that too–I mean I thought you were in bed. I was just getting an early jog in.”
Tracy kept his eyes on Abdu, he struggled not to glance at the young woman who was now, clearly, staring at him. He didn’t want to guess at what thoughts lived behind that stare. Abdu said, “This is Sarah. We just met earlier on the trail. She–“
He hesitated, sharing a conspiratorial look with the woman before finishing. “I guess you can say the short version is that she fell down.”
Tracy couldn’t imagine how Abdu could just meet someone and already there was a long version, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.