improvement

he said today i am 79 years young. she listened to the cliche and didn't flinch. he'd been carrying a case of water around ever since she'd met him, and she hadn't had the inclination to ask why and wasn't about to do it. he pulled out a red fish from the case and put it i his mouth. it's a birthday fish, he said. it will make me grow to 6 feet tall, which is a birthday wish i've been keeping for just this occassion. in spite of herself, she was touched by this gesture. she had developed a painful back ever since she'd join him in his travels, for stooping to hear what his short-ass mouth would say. some days he was the most interesting man she knew, and the water case would produce lobster for them to eat. other days there was only jelly-fish and staid conversations. it wasn't a boring life, even if there were times when they both had to run away to escape the intense desire to tear each other's hair out. still, 79 years was a long time, long enough, she thought, so she produced an axe, cut his head off and ate him there and then.