With his feet toasty and besocked with heavy wool, Luther fell fast asleep and woke up even faster. Nora was roaming. She was in the bathroom flushing and flipping lights, then she left for the kitchen, where she fixed an herbal tea, then he heard her down the hall in Blair’s room, no doubt staring [...]

‘Oh hush, Luther’ ‘Are your feet wet?’ ‘No. Yours?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then why’d you ask?’ ‘Just worried.’ ‘Do you think she’ll be all right?’ ‘She’s on an airplane. You just talked to her.’ ‘I mean down there, in the jungle.’ ‘Stop worrying, okay? The Peace Corps wouldn’t send her into a dangerous place.’ ‘It won’t be [...]

And for what? I’m fine, Mom. Haven’t seen you in almost an hour. We all love each other. We’ll all miss each other. Gotta go, Mom. The engine was running though Luther didn’t remember starting it. ‘You forgot the white chocolate?’ Nora asked, fully recovered. ‘No. I didn’t forget it. They didn’t have any.’ ‘Did [...]

A crowd had stopped to watch the old Mexican decorate his cigar store window. He was plugging in little robots who trudged through the fake snow, and this delighted the crowd no end, Luther was forced to move off the curb, and in doing so he stepped just left instead of just right. His left [...]

The express line was, of course, slower than the other two. Chip’s outrageous prices forced its customers to buy in small quantities, but this had no effect whatsoever on the speed with which they came and went. Each item was lifted, inspected, and manually entered into the register by an unpleasant cashier. Sacking was hit [...]

A stock boy was working hard on a display of Christmas chocolates. A sign by the butcher demanded that all good customers order their Christmas turkeys immediately. New Christmas wines were in! And Christmas hams! What a waste, Luther thought to himself. Why do we eat so much and drink so much in the celebration [...]

And every shop was full. Another Santa clanged away with the same bell outside the cheese shop. ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer rattled from a hidden speaker above the sidewalk in front of Mother Earth, where the crunchy people were no doubt still wearing their sandals. Luther hated the store-refused to set foot inside. Nora bought [...]

He wheeled into a space near a burger joint and demanded, ‘Give me a list.’ ‘I’ll go,’ she said, but only in feigned protest. Luther would hike through the rain and they both knew it. ‘Gimme a list.’ ‘Just white chocolate and a pound of pistachios,’ she said, relieved. ‘That’s all?’ ‘Yes, and make sure [...]

‘Do you really think so?’ ‘Sure.’ Whether he did or he didn’t, what did it matter at this point? She was gone; they couldn’t stop her. He gripped the wheel with both hands and silently cursed the traffic slowing in front of him. He couldn’t tell if his wife was crying or not. Luther wanted [...]

They released her and watched helplessly as she joined a long line and inched away, away from them, away from home and security and everything she’d ever known. As she handed over her boarding pass, Blair turned and smiled at them one last time. ‘Oh well,’ Luther said. ‘Enough of this. She’s going to be [...]