MR. MANILA FOLDER (FLASH FICTION)

Like most ingenues, she thinks he's not that smart. And a bore to boot. She thinks he's just another manila folder (wait, or is that vanilla?) buried deep within a six drawer filing cabinet. Well, maybe that's so.

But he tells her to open his so-called humdrum file -- pretty thick with substance. But she wouldn't know it. He tries to tell her yet again that people will eventually discover and remember their folders and its contents.

"That sweetheart...," he stresses, "...is when you'll be judged."

Her eyes roll.

All he can think is, "Ah, the lost potential..."