Valentine’s day.
Yancy laid on the bottom bunk of the bed, sighing and staring up at the thin bars that held the top mattress up. he traced patterns in the grid, zigzags, different shapes...a few hearts...he could barely make out the shapes because the lights had been dimmed, signaling that it was time to sleep, or otherwise be quiet.
it was the day after valentine’s day, and while the other inmates were eating chocolates that their partners had given them or admiring bouquets of colorful flowers, yancy sat alone in his cell.
Well, not entirely alone. On the top bunk lay his best friend and right hand man, tiny. She was in the same boat as he was, although she really couldn’t care less about valentine’s day or romance. As she put it, “Valentine’s day is a horrible way to commemorate the beheading of a saint.”
Yancy supposed he could see where she was coming from. still, he yearned to be close with someone, to have a person to sing love songs to, a person that he could give flowers and chocolates.
“Hey Tiny.”
“Hm?” came a sleepy sounding mumble from the top bunk.
“I...I knows that you ain’t a romantical person an’ all, but do youse ever wish that you had a sweetheart?”
“Yance, it’s not that i’m not a romantic person, it’s that i’m just not looking for love at the moment. prison isn’t exactly the best dating pool.”
“Yeah, Youses right about that. but still...it’d be nice. to have someone to hug me and give me flowers an’ stuff.”
Yancy heard a sigh from above him, then a shuffling sound, and finally, a small thump as tiny jumped off the top bunk and landed on the floor. he turned around to face her.
“Okay, scoot over you big softie.”
Yancy tilted his head in confusion, but moved back. Tiny climbed onto the bed, then laid down and wrapped an arm around him. She gently hugged him around his middle, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Hey, how come youses the big spoon?”
“Cause I wanna be the big spoon. Besides, i get the feeling you like being the little spoon.”
Yancy chuckled, curling up slightly to let tiny wrap around him.
“Okay, maybe youses right.”
The two laid there in comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. Then yancy spoke.
“Thanks, Tiny.”
“No problem, Yance.”
The two friends stayed like that for the rest of the night, snoozing together. And as he drifted off to sleep, yancy found that valentine’s day didn’t seem to matter anymore.
