He picked it up nervous. When he turned it around there were no words on it. He had expected some kind of note.

He didn't know what to do next. Call her again. He did that. But nobody answered on the other line. He was not surprised by that.

What to do...

Even though he was fired... it turned out his company paid for those 4,000 hours he clocked.

At his 35 dollars an hour rate, that amounted to 140 grand. Not bad.

He would take a year off from work. Travel. He'd break up with Crazy Meghan first thing.

Yes. Maybe he'd meet a...

She was crazy. Her name was Meghan. She wouldn't allow her dog to ever be alone. Her boyfriend Jeff never could understand. He worked construction. Worked a lot of hours. So it got on his nerves. He fantasized about leaving the dog home alone. One day he would do it....

Cal ended up taking a bunch of pills. He was dead by morning. Marianna didn't know how to feel about it. She was unhappy with the relationship. But now that he had killed himself she was filled with guilt. The few people still left in her life consoled her. Told...

Few days passed. Nothing came to mind.

Then weeks.

First she was anxious to come up with something to say. But then she came okay with this. She would be okay not coming up with something to say for years. Whenever it was that she finally figured out how to reach out...

The world was falling apart.

It had been the whole time. "We didn't start the fire". When she first heard it in high school. Her civics teacher told her what it meant. And it felt so true.

Marianna was bold in expressing her opinions. That history had always been violent. She would...

The leaves were changing. Writing dates felt different now that the month featured two digits.

Marianna grabbed her pumpkin spice latte after the barista yelled out her name twice.

Airports were the only place she ordered coffee. She wouldn't feel guilty since she would be stuck there.

It reminded her of  Spacecity ....

This was his first time at his sister's new place. It wasn't so new. She'd moved there two years ago. But he hadn't had time to visit. well that was a little unfair. He literally couldn't have come. He had been up in  Spacecity the past four years. Now he...

Someday everyplace would have  security cameras . Not because there would be some concentrated government effort. The government was too inefficient for that. Businesses and homeowners would become self interested. Surveillance systems would become popular. Easy to install.

People would think back at times when homes and businesses weren't covered by...

Jimmy's lighter was old fashioned. You couldn't get it at a store like 7-11. Would have to find a fancy cigar shop. But not even at the cigar shop. It would have to be a cigar shop in the past. They just didn't make lighters like that these days.

Jimmy knew...