Remarkably Bright Creatures

Late at night, just before closing, Ethan stands outside the Shop-Way grocery store smoking his pipe, watching the fog roll in. He worries about Tova driving home in this weather—she started shopping in the evenings two years ago, and he wishes she wouldn’t. Ethan, originally from Scotland, came to America in the ’70s with his girlfriend Cindy. They got married impulsively during a cross-country road trip, but not long after, Cindy left and never came back. When a tipsy couple stumbles into the store, pays, and then speeds off into the night, Ethan quietly labels them idiots. He hates the thought of Tova sharing the road with people like them—or like the drunk driver who killed his sister when she was just 10.