Chapter Eight: It Could've Been Anyone, It's Never Me

Happenstance looked across his driveway. Little bits of grass were growing between the cracks, in awful defiance of Happenstance's experiments with weedkiller the week before. He would've done better to just tear up all the concrete, start a vegetable garden in its place, and park on the street. When the stray grass takes over the street that would be the city's problem.

It was hailing like every Tuesday, right on schedule. He'd have to pick vegetables that would survive the regular onslaught. Potatos might work, potatos hide underground anyway. The hail would never find them.

Dreams like this are always easy to remember.

Happenstance looked across the street at his neighbor Assurance. She had her own vegetable garden going already, full of giant ripe tomatos. How she fended off the hail he had no idea.

"There are times like this when I'm not sure if the sky it going cave in on all of us," Happenstance said to his mailbox. His mailbox couldn't hear him of course, it didn't have ears like the grass did.

He was right of course, the sky was caving in, but much slower than he could have expected. Upper management had been slowing things down, making sure that the workers had missed a couple deadlines before work was allowed to start. But, budget willing, it would collapse one day.

The grass was growing around Happenstance's ankles now.

The hail slowly came to a stop. If everything stuck to schedule (like it always did), it would start raining soon. Happenstance had to get inside before that happened. He dashed inside with all the fear of a fish on a chain.

He casually walked around his house, just waiting for the rain to stop. He happened across his modem. It was a nice modem, one made before all the regulations changed. There was a note attached to the bottom. He read it aloud:

I was standing there

Looking for the cats among the shipping crates

And I'd seen you before

In a dress

And nice shoes

You walked up and said hi

And I said hi

The train came and we got on

I don't remember all of what came next

But I remember saying hi a lot

And sitting with you

Until the year ended

And everyone said goodbye to you

And I said goodbye to you

You went back home

And they cleared out the shipping crates

Happenstance didn't remember writing it. He folded the little note twice in half and slipped it into his pocket. Something to worry about later, right now the rain was stopping.