Mini-story: Lights

Everything has to happen sometime. I mean, not everything that could happen actually comes to pass, but the stuff that does happen always has its time and place. It’s easy to forget that, in retrospect. The biggest events of human history were also just somebody’s Monday morning, or their Friday afternoon. Or somewhere in the middle. It was a little after 8:30 PM on a Wednesday night when they arrived. At least, that’s what time it was for me. I was just walking back into the living room, but not my own; I was at a housewarming party at my mate’s new place. It was — and is — a nice house. Thick carpet where there should be, and hardwood otherwise. A garage that’s ripe for converting. Three bed, two bath, two social. Even some stairs. A proper house has stairs, I always thought. It’s a nice place, and I’d told him so; him and his wife of about a year at that point. I meant it, too — if anything, I meant it even more than I’d expressed. Does anyone go to a housewarming and not feel just…