Are You Sitting Down? (45 page)

Back down Highway 55, I pulled into Four Points Gr
o
cery for a cold drink.
I was shocked to find the glass door locked.
I stuck my face up to the glass, but did not see Mr. Greer inside.
The butcher counter was clean; the small conve
n
ience store was dark.
A sign in the window indicated he was not open today
:
CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS, REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.

I sat in the idling car for a moment to contemplate the two directions I could take from here.
One was a boring stretch of highway that led back to my
lonely
apartment in the city, and the other was just a few blocks
away leading
home.

I chose
home
.