Post #1

The previous day had never really ended, it seemed. Her current work schedules
made the last couple of days each week real tough: she worked the graveyard shift
over at the gas station downtown from 9 Thursday evening until 3, then rode the bus
back to its stop near the Park and walked to the Foxberry, where she hopefully would
get a few hours of sleep before her 8 A.M. shift at Grumble Bee.

This past night, though, she got no rest at all. She was worrying about Tommy, as usual.
It was Nina who’d left just earlier that week, but Donna wasn’t worried about that. No, her
daughter had always had a head on her shoulders: shoot, that’s how she got to be one
of the three Colombia High kids in her class going to State on scholarships. She knew
Nina’d call over the weekend as they’d arranged.

But Tommy? Donna hadn’t heard from Tommy in a few weeks now. The last she knew
he was still staying across town with that girlfriend of his, working at the garage. He was
in a better place than he had been but Donna knew from experience how quickly things
could turn South with Tommy.

Maybe now that Nina had moved out she’d go back to a smaller apartment. Rent was
cheaper down there and she would be able to drop a couple shifts at the station and hopefully
get better sleep.

Had Donna not been working the graveyard shift, she probably would've been home when
Mrs. Rose from down the hall came knocking with news of Mr. Evans' passing. But now as
she listened to the 7 o'clock news while preparing the coffee, she heard the anchor read out
a headline that shot through her heart.

"Yesterday evening a middle-aged man was found dead in the parking lot of the Foxberry
apartment building near the power plant. Mr. Evans, a long-time resident of the complex, was
deemed to have suffered a heart attack and died before medical help arrived."