Chapter 22: AlexCrossing her legs, Alex leaned back against the head rest, dead tired while at the same time, wide awake. Luckily, the Uber driver was a quiet sort. Almost bald, with barely an inch between his gut and the steering wheel, he sped past neon signs and brightly lit buildings, “Santa Baby” blaring from his car stereo. The smaller the houses became, the more garish the decorations were, as if following some weird opposite-proportional scheme. Tree trunks wrapped in shimmering lights competed with cascading icicles overhanging wraparound porches. A garish, pastel-colored manger scene sat incongruously beside a giant snowman that was blown up like a balloon and tied down with stakes.
The house they pulled to a stop in front of was a notch above the worst display on this spectrum,
