I think the possibility that I might leave work early tomorrow just went and vanished. I feel a little silly stopping somewhere halfway tomorrow night, staying in a motel for an evening, when I’m only driving about three hundred miles. But I’m not too eager to take what could be a six or seven-hour trip (or more, depending on weather and holiday traffic) after an eight-hour day at work, and the only other option is trying the whole thing from the crack of dawn on Thursday morning. What I’d like to do is take at least half of tomorrow off so I can leave around noon and hopefully get to New York sometime around 8. But, like I said, I think the possibility of that happening — of me getting a chance or the courage to ask, “how would you feel about me leaving early today?” — kind of just disappeared. My boss specificially asked, “You will be in tomorrow, right?”