In my mid 20s, I lived in a small basement apartment off of frat row near UMASS. It was downstairs from the swim team (I have another funny story about them breaking into my bedroom for me) with a couple of college students. I wasn’t in college and worked at the strip club nearby in South Hadley. One of my roommates was wary of me because of this; for example, his wallet went missing once and he immediately blamed me. It was in the couch, and of course he never apologized for accusing me.
So one day it was my birthday, so I decided to walk into town to run some errands. I loved Amherst because it’s very pedestrian friendly; despite the fact that it was a suburban-rural area, one could get around without a car quite easily. There was a small convenience store which sold the tikka masala packets I liked, and I picked up a pint of rice at the Chinese restaurant to go with it. On my way back I passed my friend, we’ll call him Sam.