Six of One

"Could you stop at The Dime Store and buy white lights? I can't find any."

"Hi. There are packages of 50 and 100. Should I buy two?"

"I'm confused. Two what?"

"Two packages of lights."

"Wait. Two hundred lights?"

"Yes."

"Um. No," and she considered telling him one-thousand, but knew that in relation to his assumption that two hundred would likely be more than enough that this would lead to a conversation for which neither one of them had the energy, "get eight hundred."

"You're kidding."

"OK, six. Six hundred."

And in the year of scaling back and not making a fuss, of only putting up the tree and hanging the stockings, it was fine. Though she knew, every evening at dusk, that two hundred more lights would have made all the difference.

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