Nothing else will feel right

 It was his grandmother's birthday. It was an all-time low for CW. But the invite was there, and Crystal was nice enough to take him. After all, it wasn't that far to walk to Millie's, but Crystal had a car, and she said she could show him around town. 

"I can't believe you haven't been around here. You know, there's a river, don't you?" She'd said when they talked about game night after work.

"So." He told her he didn't like water in general.

"I can tell," she chuckled, but left it to his imagination about what she was trying to tell him. He smelled his shirt. 

"I sweat a lot, all right."

She was making him cranky, and it seemed Millie told Crystal to watch him like a hawk. Even so, she'd given him space.

"Brother, you need to drink more water," she said.

Soon enough, they were in her old sedan that set sail out of old town and off to a nearby strip mall. She thought they should buy some snacks for the party.

"A party?" CW's face wrinkled in disgust. He hadn't signed up for that. But they made a quick trip to Dollar Tree and she passed by all the sugary drinks and went for the canned water that evidently didn't sell so well at the Van's Warp Tour.

"That's just water?" He picked one up as if it might be a keepsake. He'd always wanted to go to that music venue. These days all he listened to was the oldest station that Carol tuned in. He guessed punk music might keep the old timers away.

She picked up a few bags of popcorn and different kinds of M&Ms. Crystal was quite the connoisseur of cheap food.

She mentioned how she couldn't eat beets anymore. She ate so many beet chips that she threw up. "I guess it's not the best way to go vegetarian." She laughed.

"You're vegetarian?" CW gave her a HOW COULD YOU look.

"Of course not," she snickered.

CW smiled. She had a way of putting anyone in a good mood. Still, he wished he could do something to remember his grandmother's birthday. His nose watered then.

"Are you sure everything is all right, CW?"

She said his name. Nobody ever said that. Well, that really wasn't his name. It had been Chuck at one time, but no one had ever called him Charles Ward other than his grandmother.

"It's-" He hated to be a downer.

"It's what?" She was listening.

"It's my grandmother's birthday." He laughed as he teared up. He didn't want to talk of her passing.

"We should buy a cake and celebrate," she smiled.