He chewed thoughtfully, watching as his friend's eggs were pushed slowly around on the plate opposite. Waited.
"BA..."
"Yeah?"
"Um...what's your earliest memory?"
He thought for a moment. "My daddy readin to me, at night...You?" Waited again as the fork was placed carefully beside the plate.
"She's tying my shoe...and then she smiles, and hugs me..." The handle of the coffee cup was softly caressed. "It was there, in my head, when I woke up this morning." A finger tapped quietly on the table.
"You remember her face?"
"It wasn't the woman in that photo. My aunt." The napkin was crumbled tightly into a ball. "Maybe it was just a dream..."
"That what you think?"
The fork hovered again above the eggs. "No..." He looked at BA for the first time. "I could feel her arms around me. And even...smell her."
BA smiled at him.
He hesitated. Smiled back.