Her father, Jim stood at the door, pleading for his wife to come in from the rain. “Forget it honey, she ain’t coming back.” Lorraine came inside as Judy’s taillights made a left onto Gunther Avenue. “Oh Jim, I don’t want her to leave like that.” “You know Judy. She’s not like the others. She’s always doing things like this. She’ll be back.” Lorraine sobbed onto his shoulder and they went inside the house.

Across the street Marie Natale was peering through her window at the scene going on. Marie always had her nose in other people’s business. It was so large it was hard for her nose not to be. She yelled at her husband Joe, “Them damn Foglio’s think they’re better than everyone. Well they’re not. Judy just drove out of there like a mad woman.” Joe could care less. He was more comfortable rereading newspapers from a week before. “Marie, get away from the friggin window and make me dinner.”

Judy made a left turn at the bottom of Gunther Avenue, and headed south. She couldn’t belive what was said and she couldn’t believe how it was said. ‘It’s so much like the idiotic neighbors across the street’ she thought as she drove through the rain. She headed towards an intersection when a dog ran out in front of her car.

Judy slammed the brakes and the dog kept running, but her car skidded into a telephone pole. The passenger side door was badly dented and the car stalled. ‘Jesus fucking Christ! I can’t believe this shit’ she yelled as she pounded the steering wheel. Then she realized that a good catholic girl like her shouldn’t talk like that, no matter what.

She got out and inspected the door. ‘No big deal. No one got hurt’ she muttered to herself as she tried to open the passenger door. It wasn’t opening. Judy started pounding the roof of her Monte Carlo, ‘Damn Damn Damn it all!’

She tried lighting a cigarette in the rain with no luck. So she walked over to the driver’s side and got in the car. ‘Why me? Why does this shit have to happen to me?’ She thought about turning around and going home but thought about it and decided against it.

Instead she just drove south and didn’t stop. The rain eventually let up and the sun started to break through the clouds. She got on the Turnpike and then the Parkway. She was going down the shore.

When she got to the beach she was glad that the rain had scared away everyone from the sands. She had the beach to herself. Stripping down to her underwear, she ran into the water and hesitated for a moment then dove right in. The water was cool and invigorating. She felt a whole lot better.