a light drizzle was falling as my sister jill and i ran out of the methodist church, eager to get home and play with the presents that santa had left for us and our baby sister, sharon. across the street from the church was a pan american gas station where the greyhound bus stopped. it was closed for christmas, but i noticed a family standing outside the locked door, huddled under the narrow overhang in an attempt to keep dry. i wondered briefly why they were there but then forgot about them as i raced to keep up with jill.
once we got home, there was barely time to enjoy our presents. we had to go off to our grandparents’ house for our annual christmas dinner. as we drove down the highway through town, i noticed that the family was still there, standing outside the closed gas station.
my father was driving very slowly down the highway. the closer we got to the turnoff for my grandparents’ house, the slower the car went. su