A cat watches me walk back to my house against the wind.
“Can you take the trash out?” my friend asks. “Tomorrow’s garbage day.”
I look at the white bag choked around the rim of the trashcan. It’s full. I put my backpack down, undo the knot, and pull up the bag.
I walk to the street and open the lid of the bin. I look inside. Someone once told me to be careful when I open the lids of trash bins because rats sometimes feed on leftovers inside. I drop the bag into the empty bin and close the lid.
“Did you eat?” my friend asks back inside.
“No. I’m going to make ramen.”
I fill a pot with water and put it on the stove. I pull a packet of noodles from a drawer, tear the packet, and empty the noodles into the pot. We watch the noodles unfold.
“Do you want an egg?”
She opens the fridge and pulls out two eggs. I open another packet of noodles and empty them into the pot.
“Isn’t you know who graduating soon?”
“Yeah.”
She cracks the eggs and lets the yolks spill onto the pan. I stir the noodles in the pot. Steam rises from the water. I open the window over the sink.
“It’s raining.”
“You got back at the right time.”
I pull two bowls from the cabinet and place them on the counter.
“I can cut some vegetables,” I say.
“No, I’ll do it. I don’t trust you.” She washes green onions in the sink and dices them. The smell of the onions mixes with the smell of the rain outside.
I turn off the burner and empty the pot into the two bowls.
She picks up a handful of diced green onions and drops them into the bowls. She waves her hand in and out of the steam, and the steam hugs her fingers.
“Are the eggs ready?”
“Yeah.” She scrapes off the eggs and slides them onto the noodles. I carry the bowls to the table. We talk about time, and meaning, and smallness.
