A balding man with bright white shoes sighed as he slumped into C Gate. C for Carl, he thought. Carl laughed as soon as he thought it.

Stinking of smoke, Carl found a seat next to Marla and her husband, Jeremy. Just as he sat, he got up again. Crouching on the grey carpet decorated with blue fishes, he started rearranging the items in his black suitcase.

The mangy man didn’t consider that he was inches in front of the young married couple. Carl’s boundaries were never that thick. He didn’t think much about calculating the appropriate distance from strangers. He didn’t think much at all. He talked a lot, though, and his voice squealed like a deflating inner tube when his mouth yammered on.

“I guess this is no time to wonder if you forgot something,” Carl said.

“Probably not,” Jeremy said.

“You know, I don’t know if either of you have ever done this, ” Carl went on, “but when I got to the airport’s covered parking lot, I thought I forgot my suitcase. I really did. I felt sick to my stomach. Have you ever done that?…Alright. I’ve got everything I need.”

“That’s good,” Marla said.

Carl couldn’t help but go on and on with Marla and Jeremy. He was a talkative man and they were patient, which only spurred him on further. Carl’s voice whistled as he forced out more conversation. “You guys ever play dominoes?”

“Once or twice,” Jeremy said.

“Yeah, well, when you play for money, it’s a different game entirely,” Carl said, placing his black, zipped-up rolling case on the grey, upholstered seat. Then he coughed for three minutes straight.

“You all right?” Marla asked.

“Sure,” Carl said. He was still a bit raspy, though, and pointed at his suitcase, asking, “Can you guys watch that?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jeremy piped up as Carl walked away. Marla sipped her coffee and texted messages on her phone.

Jeremy pulled a laptop out of his canvas bag and made a face to himself, remembering that his teeth weren’t brushed. Since Jeremy tended to brush his teeth in the shower, and since he had to put off his shower that morning, he had forgotten all about oral hygiene.