7 november

Pulling over his pullover, he picked up his wallet and room key card, taking care to put each in separate pockets. That demagnetization thing was real enough to be annoying. He tried to be careful. Should he drive? The store was maybe a half mile away. He imagined somebody noticing him from a distance drive away and pull up. Ridiculous, that person would think.

How much of life is based around calculations of awkwardness? He wondered this often.

He decided to drive. Ridiculous, he thought.

At the store, he picked up a magazine and a small bag of honey mustard pretzels along with the deodorant. He didn’t really need either. Again. It just seemed awkward otherwise.

The girl behind the counter didn’t say anything. No doubt she had her own thoughts. There were basically two options. Either she had it totally together and would imagine his doubts ridiculous, or she was just as confused as he was to be up in the middle of the night contemplating this purchase and the deeper questions revolving around the innate awkwardness of life.