Maybe The Store Is Still Open? Wait, Maybe It Is Closed After All

I have been dreading the first day I don't have a job and I wake up and see them at home because they don't have to go to The Store anymore.  The house will suddenly feel too crowded.  I might be able to adjust, but there's a good chance I will be so sick of seeing them home day after day after knowing they're out working day after day that I'll be forced to do something drastic, like go back to school or leave home.

That, of course, is contingent on whether -- but let's be honest, how long -- The Store is open.  And because I can't bare to ask the 'Rents straight-up if and when they're shuttin' the ol' lady down for good, I have to just look for signs.  Honestly, I have no idea if The Store is already closed.  But I don't think so -- at least as of, like, a week or so ago.

Obviously The Store was closed while they were in Vegas.  But last Sunday Father wanted my blanket because he wanted it have it drycleaned.  I thought he was going to do it the week before, but he got busy.  Maybe with The Store?  Another sign: Last week (maybe the week before?  Maybe the week before that?  Sheesh, that might be a long time ...) Mother asked if I could make a pick-up at a distributor.  The Store wouldn't be closed if I had to do something like that.  (Unfortunately I couldn't do it because of work.)

On the other hand, Father has been doing a lot of repainting the home the past couple weeks, and he could only do that if he wasn't at The Store.  And just tonight, I see that the house phone we've used for years (which, if I recall correctly, was one Grandmother bought on a whim) has been replaced by one that, if I'm right, was used at The Store.  If it's not being used there. ...

Damn.  I already am going through the shock of The Store dying.  Now I have to bear the brunt of the other shoe dropping: My folks actually being home for good.