Suddenly Cold

At work one day I found myself oddly chilled. Curling my arms inward and legs under my chair, it was a chill I could not shake. Its the kind of chill you get when you know you are getting sick. But there was not tickle in my throat or inching grip on my head. Its the kind of chill you get coming out of the pool and into the air conditioning. Pervasive and enveloping. The cold has its icy angular fingers wrapped you whole body and it squeezes so hard that bits of ice slough off and shatter fall through the air.

So cold I took it a sign and assumed something must be wrong with my mother. Who is always cold. It must be one of those psychic links shared by twins except its Mami and her glass of wine.

But, I loathed speaking with my mother so I text her but under pretense.

"Hey....are you registered to vote in Ohio?"

Yes, she replied

"Cool. Are you ok?"

Yes, she replied but then she began narrating about the cancer in my sister's dog. "She has thigh cancer."

And I don't reply because I know she is OK and this chill must not be a psychic link but instead a coincidence. I don't blink at thigh cancer which is equally ludicrous and mundane. It conjures images of Mami over other dogs that now refuse to eat and cats that find deep tucked recesses in the pantry to be alone.