rewrite of “dinner guest”

CHECK, PLEASE

i sat across from a woman at dinner last night
and asked her a question
and when she opened her mouth
the angel of choice flew out
and streaked across the room
into a plate glass window
and fell stunned and bleeding to the floor.

she sat there picking feathers out of her teeth
as i rushed to the angel’s side.
i picked him up and settled him on the sill.
i asked if he was ok. he said,

i’m fine.
this happens.
sometimes, choices crash into invisible things.

i opened the window and he took off,
a little unsteady still.

back at the table
she was demolishing a chicken leg.

my god, i said, as i sat down.

eh, things fly out of people
all the time, she said.
get used to it.

after dinner, i walked home alone,

my mouth shut tight.
something
fluttered inside me. I was damned
if i was going to let this one get away. but
a choice flies on certain wings
and it has to fly to be a choice,

so i opened my mouth and let it go
and it flew off
and i feel empty
with it gone.