Seven Minutes to Midnight

6

That night, at nine o'clock, when Veronica felt that the sky was dark enough to hide our dark clothes and camouflaged faces (and sensible shoes), she drove us down to Frank's street and parked several houses down. In the dim illumination of the car's interior dome light, we went over our plan.

"Digital camera with night vision?"

"Check," I said.

"Walkie talkies?"

"Check." These were really just our cell phones, but whatever.

"Rope?"

"Check."

"Grapple hook?"

"I told you I couldn't find anything like that."

"Where did you look?"

"Wal-Mart and the hardware store."

"You didn't try the sporting goods store?"

"What?"

"The sporting goods store. Obviously that's where you'd find mountain climbing equipment."

"I don't have a car, Veronica. I had to bug my mom just to drive me over to Wal-Mart between shifts. Then I had to buy a pack of tampons just to look like there was some emergency. She kind of got pissy that I didn't ask her to take to the CVS down the street."

"Great. So instead of a grapple hook, we've got a pack of tampons."

"No, I left those at home."

Veronica glared at me in the dim light. I shrugged and she moved on.

"Notebook to record our findings?"

I held up my nearly empty math notebook.

"Writing utensil?"

I held up a Sharpie marker.

She took a deep breath. "I think we're ready to go in."

We'd been over Frank's house before, many times, so we had chosen the chestnut tree in his backyard as our outpost. "Well, good luck," Veronica said.

"Aren't you coming?" I hefted the backpack of supplies onto my shoulders and drew the hood of my black sweatshirt over my head.

"What do you think the walkie talkies are for? I'm stationed here, to watch for activity at the front door. You watch his room."

"This wasn't in the written plan."

"For God's sake, Amy, just go."

"Why can't I stay at the car, and you climb the tree?"

"It's my car."

I was a bit put out by this, and grumbled all the way to the chestnut tree, not even bothering to sneak around. This was April in New England, and the night air felt about as warm as the inside of my freezer. I had to watch out for mud puddles scrimmed with ice.

The tree would have been hard for Veronica to climb anyway, since she's on the shorter, plumper side. The backpack was a pain in the ass, though. It kept getting snagged on the branches, and I'm sure if anyone had been outside enjoying the frosty air, they would have heard a rain of curses.

I got myself situated and pulled out the video camera that belonged to Veronica's parents. The zoom feature barely showed anything, even though Frank's bedroom window was lit up. The pixels were about as big as my fist.

My cell phone rang, scaring the crap out of me and nearly causing me to drop the camera. I carefully balanced it on my thigh before reaching into my pocket for my phone.