He told the boy to wait. Wait right there in front of the liquor store. Daddy will be back in a flash. Just you wait.

And the boy waited. Looked at people as they went inside. Men in suits and ladies in tight jeans. Bums begging for bucks. A toothless woman holding a sign that read, Please Help Me.

The boy watched cars go by on Main Street. Pickups and four- doors. Some old rusted out Cavalier pulled into the parking lot. It’s back seat was filled with green and white garbage bags. A child’s toy sat up in the back part of the car. It was a dump truck. A yellow dump truck. Used to belong to the man’s kid. Now he was gone. Got cancer at a young age. The man’s wife blamed herself. It split the two in half. He went his way and she went her’s. The boy watched as the man stumbled out of the car. The man patted the boy on the head and smiled.

Daddy came out with a bottle of cheap scotch and a six pack of Old Style. The condensation seeped through the paper bag. They got into the Ford pickup and took off. The boy kept looking back at the liquor store in the rear window. Daddy opened up a beer.