As the car pulled into the driveway, I saw that the light in the living room was on, just as I had left it, which had to be a good sign. I scrambled out of the back seat, paused to pull the fob out of the ignition dock, and then headed up the front walk. The car would lock itself, so I didn’t have to worry about that. I pulled the house key from the depths of my purse, then let myself in.
At first, everything looked normal. The TV was on, tuned not to one or another holiday movie, but to a cable news channel, which tonight was going on about above-average snowfall in the upper Midwest. No big surprise, since an enormous front had been expected to sweep in right on time for the holiday. Besides, the “average” all those shows talked about was ancient history. The weather hadn’t been average
