Daily Flash Fiction Challenge

Joey forgot the matches, again. Jasper thought about punching him, but with the whole group watching, the incident would be difficult to hide from Doctor Peters. The doctor would find out eventually and then it would be back to regular anger management counseling sessions. Jasper sighed. Someone in the front row saw what was going on and offered a cigarette lighter. It felt wrong to be lighting the candle with a lighter that had a company logo on it, but there it was. Joey stepped forward, taking the lighter to light the candle.

After the vigil, Jasper kept thinking about whether to bring up the matches. It was not really Joey’s fault. Everyone forgets something important once in a while. And it was not all that important after all. The ceremony can be done without the candle. It’s just nicer with the candle. Don’t bring it up.

“The car needs to warm up. The frost is on the inside of the windows.”

“Will there be desserts at the dinner?”

“Probably.”

“Should we have a strategy?”

“What do you mean?”

“A dessert strategy.”

“I still don’t know what you mean. Why would we need a strategy for desserts?”

“We might not get the best desserts.”

“The best desserts?”

“Yes. Desserts are important. We should have a strategy to maximize our dessert options.”

“Desserts are not that important.”

“Yes, they are. Desserts have the most calories and we can only have so many calories. If we don’t have a strategy, then we could end up settling for no desserts.”

“Fine. Desserts are important.”

“Great!"

"Great."

"What’s the plan?”

Jasper started counting to himself… one… two… three…