The Verdict Was In Before I Finished Getting Ready

The earrings were not a plan. I put them on the way you do something without deciding to, grabbed them off the bathroom shelf because they were there, because it was a Tuesday and the week already felt like it needed a counterweight. Oversized gold hoops. Not subtle. Definitely a commitment, as Simone put it approximately forty-five seconds into our pre-shift overlap in the staff bathroom.

She said it the way she says most things: flat delivery, a half-second pause, and then the expression that means she's already moved on internally but is giving you the space to catch up. 'That's a whole statement,' she said, looking at the earrings and then at the cross necklace and then back at the earrings, like she was doing a quick audit. I told her it was a Tuesday. She said that was exactly her point.

The earring versus the necklace. A classic standoff.

I've been thinking about the prints leaning against the kitchen wall, and the cord on the windowsill, and whether I make decisions or just accumulate small commitments until they announce themselves. The earrings felt like the latter. I didn't decide to wear them. I just stopped not wearing them. Simone would probably say something about that if I told her, and she'd probably name the frame before I finished the sentence.

She had a whole verdict before I finished getting ready.

Anyway. We were three minutes late getting to the floor. The earrings were worth it.