Always On My Mind
 

What day is it?" the man asked in passable Spanish.

"Sabado," the young boy cleaning his windshield said with a laugh.

Saturday. Lee had been on the road for 7 days if his hung over brain was working correctly. The week was a blur of driving and drinking himself into a stupor nightly. Lee had been traveling alone and well off the tourist path.

The whole self-destruction thing had started three years earlier. At a partners birthday party Lee announced to his friends and long-time girlfriend, he was retiring from the business for good this time. He was not getting any younger and had achieved his goals.

"Time to quit and enjoy the fruits of my labor," he had told them all.

His partners and friends took the news well and wished him well but he didn't get the reaction from Sandy, his girlfriend that he had hoped for. Their relationship was crumbling and Lee thought getting out of the business was what both of them needed to reconnect on the level they had been before. She became distant and began to drink heavily the remainder of the evening.

The next afternoon when she woke up she found Lee eating lunch in the kitchen. She sat down and told him everything...

Lee dismissed the memory as he walked into the little store to pay for his gas. It was 9:00 AM but the heat was stifling already with a hot humid breeze blowing off the Gulf of Mexico.

He walked to the coolers in the back and almost reached for a few bottles of beer before he saw his reflection in the dirty glass. He looked haggard and strung out. He chose a few cans of coke instead, holding the cold cans against his forehead as he went to the counter to pay.

"Buenos Dias Senor," the smiling man behind the counter said.

"Good morning," Lee replied.

As he paid he had a Q