Gemotions

The humidity clung to him like a second skin. He didn’t want to be here. He had a million other things he should be doing. But his wife, bless her, had insisted. A feeling of intense… discomfort prickled at his skin as he scanned the yard sale offerings. And then, there it was: a teddy bear, missing an eye and sporting a large, ugly stain on its chest.

He paused, a flicker of something unpleasant – a sour taste in his mouth – twisting his features. A relic of someone's childhood. Another life, filled with… what? He didn’t want to know. He felt the familiar pressure behind his eyes.

He cleared his throat. “How much for that… rag?” he asked the woman manning the table, his voice curt. He’d never even liked teddy bears.