She was headed to her favorite store that only opened nearer to the winter holidays and had all kinds of wonderful stuff. She cherished this knowledge as something very close and personal: the store was small and not really well-known because of its peculiar schedule, so Leslie felt as if she was touching upon some secret.

But her singing mood was brought up short when she saw the “For rent” sign on the shop window. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It seemed to her that the world suddenly stopped spinning. Upset and downtrodden, she already turned to leave, thinking about what she would do now when she noticed a small piece of paper tucked between the door and the jamb... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices