CLOSED STARTER FOR @fragilcline
Bo didn’t much like the holidays. Once, perhaps. When they still had family, when there were people around them that had that holiday cheer. When there was gift-giving and good food. Now the days that should bring cheer brought them nothing but sorrow. The smile they offered strangers was replaced by an ever present frown, and the ability to escape any conversation that turned to the holidays. Even on the radio, Bo offered advice to people who were looking not to go and join family or friends. But mostly they spoke of other things. New music, changing weather, world politics.
And they went home absolutely exhausted. Just the idea of having to make it through the December month was turning their mood sour. So when they entered their regular bodega to find it packed with carollers, they quickly shot to the back of the place and riffled through magazines they didn’t intend to buy, keeping an eye on the front and praying nobody was going to start singing. “Sorry,” they said when someone appeared in their line of vision. “Do you think those people are going to leave any time soon?”
