Sunday morning, Justin woke to a fifty-two degree bedroom, a dead thermostat, and no double-A batteries, which was how he found himself at the big-box home improvement store before breakfast.

If he hadn’t had a hankering for an omelet while navigating the aisles of the store, he might not have swung into the strip mall next door to grab a stool at Midge’s, and if he hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have seen the giant ornament in the window of the thrift shop.

He hoped he hadn’t been projecting whe...