Memento

Lane DeGregory (St. Petersburg Times): PINELLAS PARK — It was still dark when Robin Goddard pulled into the Lowe's parking lot. Still raining.

She cut the engine in front of the garden center. Squinted through her windshield at the sooty sky.

It hadn't rained in weeks. Why did the downpour have to come today, of all days?

But by the time Goddard got her videocamera ready, by the time her mom, daughter, granddaughter and the rest of the entourage showed up, the first rays of dawn streamed through the dark clouds.

The rain stopped.

"What did I tell you?" asked Goddard's boyfriend, beaming. He lugged his demolition saw past her, set it on the curb. A worker from Lowe's walked out and shook his hand.

"You ready to do this?" asked Carl Sass, who oversees the store's maintenance. "You sure this will work?"

Goddard's boyfriend nodded. She turned on her camera.

Everyone crowded around the curb.

In the curved corner of the far end, in faded paint, was the perfect print of a tiny hand.

-eddie