Leaving a Light On - Claire LaZebnik (Short Story)

Short Story Title: Leaving a Light On

Author: Claire LaZebnik

Book: American Girls About Town

Rating: 3 out of 5 horses

First Line:

"It was one of those glorious evenings in early fall when the light turns golden at around seven o'clock, and the way it glitters on certain leaves and windows and throws everything else into deep shadow makes your throat catch, and you think, from now on, I'm not going to be ordinary or do ordinary things. There is greatness in my future."

This is a story about Kathy a woman going out on the town. She goes to a bar and meets a man who is married.

**SPOILER ALERT**

The man is Kathy's husband (Larry) and they are having a "date/affair" at a bar/restaurant that has a hotel attached. The have a fantasy fling with each other. And then have to go back to the reality of going home to their kids. At the end of the story she thinks about how the young her and the old her mix their thoughts together. How in some ways you don't grow up.

"You could have two kids and love them more than anything else in the world and still kind of believe that only an idiot would sacrifice her freedom to have kids. You could be grown up and settled down and satisfied with the way things had turned out and still sniff the air on a golden fall night and feel like you're only just beginning the adventures that will come to define your life."

I feel like that sometimes, especially about kids. Oh the sacrifice...and then my little one gives me a hug and a kiss on her own and it all seems worth it!