Gemotions

"Did you see the price tag on that handbag?" Chloe asked her friend, wide-eyed, as they sat on the park bench. "Mrs. Rodriguez from next door... that old lady with the chihuahua...she was carrying a Birkin!"

Her friend, equally stunned, gasped. They had always assumed she lived on a fixed income, from the look of the faded curtains and the slightly overgrown lawn.

Chloe felt an unfamiliar flush creeping up her neck. She recalled the times she'd offered to help with grocery shopping. Now she was second-guessing everything. She had never been so disoriented. She felt a strange buzzing in her ears.