About the work

The headlight is on because he is waiting. She asked him to keep it on. He can’t remember why; maybe she was fumbling for keys, maybe it was just a habit from an earlier time, a small reassurance. He has learned to wait in the dark without the engine running, sometimes for hours. He counts the seconds, sometimes the stars, if he can see them. He knows that soon, another shift will begin, and another, and another. He wonders if she ever looks back, even for a moment, to the single beam of light he keeps on just for her.