My annual review said I should be more of a people person. I took the note. I now say hello on the way in and goodbye on the way out, and I have gotten very good at the second part. Baby showers, housewarmings, the retirement lunch for a man I met once: I arrive, I mingle for twenty-five minutes, and I am the first coat off the hook. A funny introvert shirt for the coworker who is very social, mostly in the direction of the parking lot. Nobody can say I didn't show up.

THE FINE PRINT

A red door swings open, hinged on the left, with a white EXIT ONLY sign on its upper panel and a round white doorknob. A smiling white figure strides out of the doorway to the right, mid-step. OUTGOING runs across the bottom in big red bubble letters. Two inks, red and off-white, clean edges.