Gray's 100-word story for July 19, 2025

Gray wrote the following micro-story on Hectalex on July 19, 2025. Each story on Hectalex is inspired by a daily visual prompt and must be exactly 100 words.

"You are very tense," Razi drives one-handed. Beatrice smiles. It's tight. "I've never left California. Work conference. Abu Dhabi, of all places. Why is the speed limit--" she searches empty air, "--sixty-two miles an hour?" "Of all places?" "You must know," she says, face hot. "Your freedom index is eighteen. Of a hundred." "I was a chef," he says. "Windowless kitchens. Now, every morning I watch the sun break over the desert in a panorama. I drive through date palms my grandfather climbed as a child. America measures by many chefs." He smiles. "We prefer fewer fights over oven settings."

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