Beginning of Decisions, Decisions

"I heard they found him dead. Did you hear that?" Mrs. Tolliver said, to no one in particular, amid the assembled crowd.

"I heard that too," said Mrs. Miller, "but you never know for sure until they bring him out. Sheet over the face—dead!"

The crowd continued to speculate about the reason for the two police cars and the ambulance which were parked in the driveway and on the street fronting the home of Dr. James Jallek. The spinning lights from the three vehicles swept across the facade of the house and across the faces of the onlookers, causing dazzling combinations of color, light, and shadow to appear and disappear.

"I bet he killed himself," said Mrs. Tolliver. "I bet he did. He never seemed very happy to me, always ... distant and too busy to bother with people."

"He wasn’t really unkind, though," said Mrs. Miller, "just pre-occupied. Always had something better to do, I guess."