Was the bus here already? I didn’t even hear it pull up to the stop, I was so engrossed in reading the newspaper that I had bought to pass the time. Only the sudden movement of people alerted me to its arrival. I was looking forward to going home tonight. I would be able to eat a nice warm dinner that my wife lovingly made for me, and then afterwards she would knit and I would finish reading the newspaper as we sat in our armchairs by the fire. A fire and hot food sounded really good right about now, among the biting winter air. I thought briefly about the red scarf she had given me as a birthday present many years ago, the scarf that was around my neck now. I was very glad to have it with me now to keep me warm.
I almost missed the bus, the newspaper was so interesting. The paper really isn’t usually interesting, but this was different. On 63 Birchtree Ave, two streets away from where I lived, a man had killed his entire family and burned down his house. Now, I have to admit, that story caught my attention. It was truly horrible to read about, but all I could think about was how I probably walked by that man before, probably saw him at the supermarket once or twice. And I never even knew. Of course no one knew that one day he would snap like that, but I just can’t stop thinking about how on Halloween, his kids would have stopped at my house. I’ve been living near this family for years and years, even before I retired. The thing that really gets me is thinking about what I was doing while all this was going on. Maybe I was doing a puzzle with my wife, or sitting out on my porch, with my usual red scarf wrapped around me, and watching the sunset. Or maybe I was taking the dog on a walk, and just so happened to walk in the opposite direction of the horrible crime.
