Betrayal!

The other night, I was up much later than I ought to have been. These days, I keep a decent schedule, but weekends commonly disrupt it. In any event, it was late, I had imbibed, and was hungry. My usual action at such time is either to eat something I have on hand, or to run out to the grocery store for something without regard for the time. The local grocery store has always been open twenty-four hours, which is nice.

On this night, I started out for the grocery store and had the distinct feeling that something weird was going on. Sometimes it just feels like there's something behind a whole lot of peculiar goings-on that I'll witness while out and about. Often I suspect it's nothing more than people having a good time, which still looks odd to someone who was once very used to spending all of his time alone and at home. Sometimes it seems like something else, though.

Now, I don't mean to say that there was some conspiracy going on this night, but call it an omen. All I know is that when I arrived at the grocery store in the wee hours of the morning, I found it being closed up. This was odd indeed for a store open 24 hours. A man identifying himself as the manager informed me in very direct language that the store was closed, and responded to my incredulous query of when this had begun by saying that this was the second week of it. I was dumbstruck.

I was really very angry, as the grocery store being open all night was one of the neighborhood's best features. I was very accustomed to going there late, as I said. There was something very pleasant about being there amid more stacks of un-stocked merchandise than customers, and something neat about being among fellow shoppers who were at least as weird as I was if not more. Well, that's no more. After retreating from the store, I went and patronized a fast food restaurant that still operates all night, fuming and muttering to myself all the while.