Harold never wanted to be a dry cleaner. It never once occurred to him. He had bigger plans: college—law school, maybe—a business of his own. But dry cleaning was where he was, and yet…. He was, he thought as he looked into the mirror while shaving and seeing a much older man than he thought he was, still a man destine to do great things, a man to make an impact on the greater world. As he ri...

She was cued up to buy flour. It used to be a cue for bread, but those days were long past gone. It was still dark, and cold, of course cold, always cold. The iron gate in front of the glass door came clanking open about 30 minutes ago. She did’t see it open. Couldn’t see it open from where she stood around the corner, but she heard the rattle and clank of the iron gate swinging open, felt the ...