Priorities

After a million tries, Johnny could persuade Sonya to come visit him. He talked nonstop, but it was almost background noise to Sonya. The number of shelves with different cups in his living room was impressive. In addition to posters of his films, several championship belts hung on the walls. The most surprising thing was the stand with sunglasses that reached the ceiling. Considering that his living room had two levels, this was unsettling and frightening. Suddenly Sonya remembered one joke riddle that she had once heard and told it to Johnny: “If you had a fire and could only take one thing out, what would it be?” Johnny began to walk around his regalia with a pensive look. He wiped the dust off one shelf with his hand and fixed his hair, looking at the reflection of the largest cup. When he reached the glasses rack, he tried on several pairs with an exaggeratedly smart face and put them back. “Come on, Cage,” Sonya asked insistently, “are you going to wander around all day?” Johnny flopped down on the couch and, looking into her eyes, with tenderness in his voice, replied: “You.” Sonya raised her eyebrows in surprise, ready to take his answer as an acknowledgment of their deep friendship. Maybe even something more, if she’d interpreted his earlier hints correctly. Before Sonya could somehow reply, however, Johnny added: “But first I’d ask you to grab those cups over there,” he pointed to the shelf he’d been circling the longest. Johnny squirmed as Sonya threw a pillow in his face and loomed over him. “You know, for a moment I thought I was more than just another prize in your collection.” Her whisper sent shivers down his spine. “Babe, you’re not just a prize, you’re a real treasure,” he whispered in the same way, standing up and putting his hand to his chest. “Your place is here and, in the long run, next to me in bed.” The flattery seemed to work, and Sonya sat back as if nothing had happened. “You overestimated me a little bit. I’m not a loader carrying all this junk.” “What would you take?” Sonya didn’t take long to think of an answer: “I would take a box of my medals and some trophies first.” “What kind of things?” With equanimity, she picked up one pair of glasses she’d observed Johnny preferred to wear most often and gently hooked it over the edge of her T-shirt. “Hey, those cost-” Johnny was starting to get indignant before an epiphany came to him.