A Beautiful Thing
By A.F. Henley
Scott was not doing any of the things that everyone in the entire city seemed to be doing. He was not picking up a last minute gift for someone who had been forgotten or who had decided they were going to show without advance notice. He was not getting just one more roll of overpriced paper, tape, or ribbon. Nor was he pulling his hair out because he was still obsessing over The Perfect Thing for a spouse or lover. All Scott was doing was grabbing a pack of cigarettes.
He’d known the city was going to be insane. He’d been more than aware that everything from gas station to grocers, from convenience store to department store, would be crawling with consumers. They’d show up if they had to run through snow or toe-step through icy puddles, with unfocused ki
