Sitting straight and smiling

She’s been smiling for two hours now and her mouth was aching because of it—a business meeting. A colleague of hers, a man on her left, was speaking. Her neck, turned left to show him she listened, has started to ache, too.

She wanted to hear what he was saying, but only saw his mouth opening and the gestures of his hands.

For a moment she thought the man was a dying fish.

The man kept talking with enthusiasm. He had a bad breath and some of his saliva reached her face. But she’s been doing well, sitting straight and smiling.