Lunchtime wouldn’t be for another two hours, yet she was already hungry. She lifted her arms in the air, letting out a yawn as she stretched. Then she walked out of her bedroom leaving her clothes on the chair. She had the place to herself and didn’t have to worry about privacy. Her parents were at their second home in the Poconos, on vacation until New Year’s Day with her younger brother and sister. Darlene would be driving up to join them tomorrow afternoon, her skis waxed and ready. But there was a lot to do before then.

She was throwing a party tonight, and had to get the house ready.

Her boyfriend, Russ, had purchased a keg of beer with the help of his older brother who was home from college and of legal age. They had set it up earlier that morning on the rear terrace off the kitchen and dining room, packed in snow so the brew would be ice-cold. After the party, Russ said he would help clean up so her parents wouldn’t notice, maybe even stay over the whole night. That’s where the baby doll nightgown came in. They’d been doing it since last summer, but had never spent an entire night together. She wanted to sleep with Russ and wake up with him. She wanted him in the morning.

Darlene walked downstairs, turned the foyer light on, and stepped into the kitchen. She poured a glass of cold spring water from the five-gallon dispenser in the pantry and crossed the room to sip it by the window. The sun had vanished and it was gray outside, the jittery movement of the black clouds overhead visible even at a glance. If it snowed again, the night might be a bust. She flipped the radio on, switched it to AM, and found KYW, hoping for a weather report on the news station. As she waited, she returned to the window and looked out at the terrace. There was a squirrel on the keg, sitting on his hind legs and eating nuts. From the pile of discarded shells littering the snow, it seemed as if the squirrel had been at it for some time. Darlene tapped on the window. The squirrel turned to look at her without much interest. She knocked on the window pane again and made a face, but the stupid squirrel wouldn’t budge. When she shook her fist, the squirrel began shredding through his pile of nuts at a faster clip, making the mess even bigger with his sharp teeth.

She turned away and shook her head. There was a story on the radio, a live simulcast from the district attorney’s office in Philadelphia and the law school at the University of Pennsylvania. It didn’t sound like they would be getting to the weather anytime soon. The district attorney was in hot water with the press for something he’d done in the past. What else was new? Darlene found the story so boring, she couldn’t take it anymore and switched the radio off.

That’s when she heard it. The noise at the front door.

She looked at the clock, guessing it was the mailman. That weird geek who couldn’t keep his eyes off her when she teased him.