Most of the guests had left. Like them, their host was drunk. Only the lights on the Christmas tree and the glow of his computer monitor filled the room. Otherwise it was quite dark and empty. It was cold out, blisteringly so, but it hadn’t yet snowed. If recent history was any indication, it wasn’t going to snow. Suddenly he had an epiphany. He would buy a ticket out of here, but to where? Where would he most rather be? The answer was simple: Scotland. And so without further hesitation, he purchased a ticket, but he was still alone.

The next morning, when the reality of what he had done the night before struck him, he asked two of friends, one of whom has a very common Scottish name for a girl, to accompany him. They did. One of them lost part of a tooth on a roundabout. The rest of him came back safely.

Jeanie, who had grown up in Scotland and made her way across the Pond to settle, laughed when she learnt how he made his way to Scotland, saying, “That is a great story.” Then she got into her car and left.