Terence and Gladys lived on the other side of the town, a short drive away. Their house, Cody saw as he pulled up in the driveway, hadn’t changed. It still looked like it had in his childhood, down to the tacky Christmas decorations. Somebody else must have put them up for the couple; they were both well too old to climb up ladders and put nativity scenes on rooftops.
He knocked on the door. When nobody opened, he turned the doorknob and let himself in.
“Hello?” he called. Compared to the outside temperatures the house was a blast furnace. He couldn’t get out of his clothes quickly enough.
From down the hall he heard a cheerful, female voice. “Come on in!”
Somehow it had escaped Cody’s mind that it was only five days until Christmas. The living room looked like it was sponsored by Hall
