Prelude

 

My weekday routine changes little from one day to the next. 

My alarm goes off at 5AM and I stagger to the bathroom where I brush my remaining teeth, get dressed and, after stopping by Sam's room and throwing an extra blanket on him, I head downstairs, put away the dishes from the night before, stage Sam's breakfast, then I sit down at the computer.

At the computer, I check my two email accounts (one of which matters, the other of which exists solely out of habit - much like my really-not-needed landline). Then I hit up the semi-local news, seeing if there's anything I should care about (usually not) and then I check the local newspaper's website - also to see if there is anything I should care about. 

Surprisingly, sometimes there might be an article of interest in the local "paper"- but I will often leave these stories for Sam to discover so he can read them to me in the evenings.

After breezing through the headlines, I'll also read the obituaries. 

I've come to the conclusion that I read the obituaries for one of three reasons. First, and maybe most importantly, to make sure I'm not in there. Second, to make sure there is nobody I know in there (in case they forgot to give me a head's up). And third, assuming the other two came up empty, to check out the various ages of those recently departed, and making a mental note of it so I can gauge how much time I have left.

Then, assuming I'm not in the obituaries (so far), when Sam's alarm goes off, I go upstairs and greet him with a hug, ask how he slept - and then usually mention the morning temperature. 

The temperature matters because Sam and I like to go on walks and assuming the temperature is in our "acceptable" range (between 25 ℉ and 85℉ - depending on wind, humidity and precipitation) we will walk to and from his work - at least on most days. (More on that later. Maybe.)

From there, I go back downstairs; Sam gets dressed, comes down, eats eats and, after various prompts which I've set on his phone (time to get snacks, use the bathroom before we leave, etc.), we head out to his job at the High School cafeteria. 

Sometime around 12:30 PM, I head back over to meet Sam for when he gets out at 1:00 (or so).

When I get to his work, I always stand at the end of a long fence and wait for him to come out, trying to stay out of the way of the occasional delivery and the other employees leaving. 

It's while standing at the end of this long fence, one sunny afternoon back in early April of 2025, that trouble began.