verything was going smoothly, and life was moving forward. Ralph had passed fifty-five and was ready to savor the bittersweet taste of retirement—spending his days in front of the TV, a soda in hand, while piecing together the final fragments of his long-abandoned novel. A novel that had been shelved years ago, buried under the weight of his wife Elena’s scorn. Now, the last piece of the puzzle was clear: setting it on fire. But just as he was about to burn the work of his lifetime…