Spiral Bound Journal

Social Skills as a Chore

Ray set his Pret bag on the bench and pulled out a sandwich. Setting the sandwich on top of the bag, he looked on as Felicia got settled at the opposite end. This time around, her visit to DC was a bit less loaded. She'd made a visit to Capitol Hill, but it was as a guest of her state's senators during a joint session of Congress. This time, all she had to do was sit in the House chambers and take in the speeches. Still, she found time to partake in tacky tourist activities and hang out.

"So," Ray began, "now that all your DOJ testimony commitments are over, what are you going to do?"

Felicia sipped some blood orange seltzer. "I don't know. Focus more on local stuff, but that's going to be tough since everyone knows me. Marlon, too, and even Marcus. This being famous bit kinda sucks."

"I can't even imagine."

"And it's lonely, too. Everyone wants my time, but I only have so much to give between work, home, and community stuff. It feels like I have no time for myself or my friends. Keeping in touch with friends...it's hard work, harder than anyone ever tells those of us with lots of ambition."

"You'll have to make time," Ray told her.

At that, Felicia dropped everything and ran her fingers through her hair. "With my schedule? I'm going to need to break several laws of physics to get longer days. And I haven't been able to really get other people up to speed to pick up some of the things I do. I've become a rare resource, whether I like it or not."

"Hmmm...I guess I hadn't thought of it that way, and given how much I don't hang out with friends myself, I suppose I don't have room to talk."

"It's a tough balance. I hope my friends don't get too upset if I seem to fall off the face of the Earth for a bit. I've kind of given up hope of anyone understanding the why behind it."

Ray nodded. "Yeah, I admit I'm still a bit baffled how you manage it all."

"Who says I'm managing it?"

This caused Ray to chuckle. "You know what I mean. I guess I can't grasp doing this much stuff, even if it was kind of pushed on us in high school."

"It was, and I totally didn't lean into it back then. Guess I'm making up for lost time."

"Heh. Indeed you are."

With that, the old friends sat and took a few minutes to concentrate on their lunches.





Even with the team practice facilities being in the suburbs, Marlon preferred living in Minneapolis proper. He and Garrett had scooped up a townhouse on the west side of the city that had great access to the Chain of Lakes and neighbors that left them alone. Well, they left them alone most of the time. The one exception was whenever Felicia came to visit. Then all the neighbors seemed to have grilling, gardening, or hanging around outdoors all at the same time.

Today was a happy exception thanks to the relentless rain. Felicia had already plodded in and dropped her beloved "bain roots" at the door. Marlon turned on one of the fireplaces and set a cup of peach herbal tea on the nearby cocktail table. Felicia leaned forward from her claimed chair to pick up the cup as Marlon plopped down on an adjacent sofa. It was just them, as Garrett was off at the gym. Marlon was thankful Garrett did long workouts on the weekend, as it gave him just enough room in the schedule to get some time to chat with Felicia alone. In his mind, Felicia was less friend and more the sister he didn't realize he'd wanted his whole life.

"So how've you been?" he asked.

Felicia sips some tea. "Glad the rain canceled what feels like the nine millionth festival I'd planned to attend. While activists are getting better at talking to each other and forming alliances across town, there's always work to be done."

"I suspect there will always be work to be done. It's something that will always persist because the nature of the work will always change."

"That's true. I just wish my brain would actually latch onto that. I mean, it probably does and then uses that as justification to work harder."

"Okay, Boxer."

At that, Felicia snorted. "I wonder if encouraging you to read that book was actually a good idea. I may or may not regret my life choices."

"Well, I don't regret your life choices, especially the ones that involve housewarming parties."

"Ha! I almost did considering how my merely being there reminded Oliver that in spite of everything he still had (or has) the hots for me."

"Has? I thought he was over that."

"Over it enough to destroy his marriage, as far as I'm aware. At least that's what some of our mutual former colleagues suggest. I don't ask that much and have kind of cut back on talking to them. The move to pharma operations has introduced me to way more chill colleagues."

"Thank goodness for small mercies."

"True story!"

Felicia raised her cup in a mock toast, making Marlon wish he had a beverage.

"Be right back," he said as he moved off the couch.

With that, he wandered off to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. Given how little Felicia seemed to be able to really talk to people, he suspected they'd be busy for a while. Sometimes even just chatting like they did required NFL levels of attention to detail in the hydration department, if only to spare his throat. That was fine by him, so long as he and Felicia had the opportunity to catch up. It was worth it.



In Marcus' mind, the one downside to being in downtown at this time of year was the comparative lack of trees in the area. Sure, there were the parks, but trees along the streets were almost nonexistent in this part of Chicago. Thus, he found himself a little sad when walking to Union Station, as there was no autumnal foliage to light his way to the station. Then again, there weren't many options for putting in trees what with the already somewhat narrow streets and abundance of skyscrapers that would block out all the light. Pushing the thoughts aside, he took the final steps to the station before setting foot inside.

Once inside, he consulted the arrival screens. Even in the mid 2020s the screens possessed a vibrant color palette straight out of the Paint program included with Windows 95. Felicia had pointed this out once and remarked that she would be sad if it ever changed. To Marcus' surprise, it was still in tact even though other Amtrak signage in other stations had in fact been modernized. He found Felicia's train on the screen and decided to head to the Grand Hall to wait as per usual since it would still be a good twenty minutes before she was in the station.

Marcus was reading some of the comments on his latest video when he had a set of rolling wheels approach him. Peering up, he spotted Felicia nearby, her eyes indicating a smirk underneath her sarcastic "Fully Microchipped" face mask. He chuckled a bit at her mask and waved.

"How was the train?" he asked once she was closer.

"Besides early?" Felicia fired back. "Thankfully not too eventful. I decided to hole up in my room for lunch, especially given the latest activist news in town."

"Was your name in the paper again?"

Felicia shook her head. "People would still ask for my opinion, though."

"Fair enough. I still get asked about British politics even though I now can vote in US elections."

"Too bad there's not really a good way to contrast the voting system while staying true to the voice of your channel."

"In some ways, no, but I may talk about the process and rituals around actually casting ballots in a short. I haven't decided yet. Anyway, ready to head out?"

"Sure. Lead the way."

Since the weather was cool without being excessively windy, they walked outside to get to the nearest Red line station. Once there, Marcus offered to haul Felicia's suitcase down the stairs. Felicia appeared to start to wave him off before holding her luggage toward him. She took her suitcase back once they'd both scanned their tickets. When they reached the platform, they saw they had about 15 minutes before the next train arrived.

"Anything you want to do this weekend?" Marcus asked.

Felicia pondered this. "Well, I wouldn't mind going to the Art Institute. I haven't been there in quite a long time."

"Neither have I," Marcus replied. "In fact, I don't remember if I've ever been. We should see if Angie wants to tag along, and maybe we can go tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Now how about dinner?"

Marcus laughed. "I think Angie will be getting back late, so we were thinking of getting take out."

"Listen to you and your use of the phrase take out!"

"Right. Regardless, I think we'll probably need to wait a bit to decide on dinner plans, but I'm sure there are fig bars for you to snack on while you wait."

"Ah, you know me well."

"Of course. What kind of host would I be if I didn't treat my guest well?"

"Certainly not a conscientious one."

Marcus opened his mouth to reply when the station began to fill with a low churn indicative of an arriving train. As the breeze tossed a couple errant strands of Felicia's hair, Marcus spared her a fleeting glance before turning to look at the train, all the while failing to hide a widening grin.