The Form of a Question

by Steve Edgehouse

Of all the times to have dumped me, I would have never guessed she'd choose four minutes before I went on Jeopardy! She drove me to Chicago for my audition, she called me at work and played the congratulatory message into her cell phone, she's been reading me practice answers from index cards for the last three months. Trebek's out under the lights warming up the crowd, my competitors' eyes are slits of concentration, and here I am, getting a half-assed apology for her choice of timing. I'm begging for an explanation and she can barely look up from her Blackberry. I didn't have a good "get to know you" story for the producer with the clipboard when he asked me for one an hour ago. Do I ever have one now.

6S

Steve Edgehouse teaches writing at Bowling Green State University.