Our house is filled with people. Most nights, we sleep to the soundtrack of Stacheman’s gaming that is so loud, it sounds like it is in our bedroom. Once in a blue moon, Doug and I have the house to ourselves for a few hours. It isn’t just an extremely rare occurrence. It’s something that involves a lot of careful planning and assistance from other adults. We maximize our selfish time with the indulgence of restaurant food, only instead of eating out, we bring it home.

For our first evening alone in MONTHS, we brought home a small mountain of boiled shrimp from Hooter’s. The wet wipes from Hooter’s have clever expressions. My wet wipe made me wonder if Elizabeth Moon needs to have her people call Hooter’s people to arrange free weekly shrimp.