Chocky

Charles "Chocky" Boone was naked and brushing his teeth on his front porch when he saw Annie at the burn-barrel, poking papers with a stick.  The burning bits were floating up like those little lantern kites. Some had landed, smoking, near dry tumbleweeds along the fence.

"Annie, not today! Not with this wind!"

"Oooh! Almost done!" She yelled back at him in a thin high voice. She had glanced over and snapped her head back.

She was wearing a pink bathrobe. Her tiny head poked above the huge collar and she'd rolled the long sleeves up to her bony elbows.

The plush cotton robes were like the Cozy Y uniform these days. They were all extra-large and extra pink. The Cozy Y brand was embroidered on the shoulder. Sammy had given them as Christmas gifts a year or two before and everyone hated them.  He must have ordered hundreds because they started showing up in all the thrift stores pretty soon.

Chocky had three or four now and really liked them. Part of his morning ritual was putting on a fresh clean robe before he sat down to write. Now he put one on, along with his boots, and trotted out the door to get the hose.

"Working on the Colonel's biography, Miss Annie?"

She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and turned to go back inside.