The Second

THEY speak like old friends now, maybe not always joking but always hearing.
Somehow the awkwardness has disappeared; but now suddenly, it seems that everyone is starting to give one another surreptitious observations. They are eyeing the prize. Only what was the prize?
The prize was dying. No, the prize, the real prize, was no longer living. There is a fine line between the two although no asleep English teacher will accept that they aren't synonyms. They'll smack your palms with sticks or strike your soul with words and they will do what they have to because that's what they have to do.
The words are coming easier. That was surprising.