The Furthest Distance

At four in the afternoon, the Van Wyck moves the way water moves through a clogged drain. Her suitcase is in the trunk. I keep one hand on the wheel and the other on the volume knob. I turn it up two clicks, the bravest thing I will do all day. Remember everything will be alright We can meet again somewhere Somewhere far away from here from “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles Somewhere means Tokyo, though neither of us says it. She likes Pokémon. I want ramen in the country that invented it. We have mentioned the trip twice, lightly, as people mention a future they have no plans to enter. She watches the terminal signs pass: Virgin Atlantic, KLM, Delta. The needle of the Smartstitch S1001 comes down eight hundred times a minute. No single stitch can be seen happening. The arm shuttles left, the hoop snaps right, and the thread leaves the spool in small, hungry gulps beneath a sound like a patient argument. A Boston Terrier came out of that machine one leg at a time, ears last, eyes…