I'll Have a Number 4

Five:2:One 2017

My neighbor cries. Our walls are thin and I can hear her. Sometimes she cries when the news is on and sometimes I hear her bawling over Jeopardy. Since our apartments are identical, only reversed, our bedrooms line up and she wakes me sometimes when she’s listening to Jimmy Kimmel. Christ, he’s not that bad—he’s actually pretty good.  I hear her ordering in from the Chinese restaurant: spring rolls, hot and sour soup and house fried rice—her standard order #4. Sometimes I try explaining her crying to company. I blame it on the MSG or the fortune cookie.