The Pinebox Vendetta [SAMPLE]

Sam slipped out of the WNYC studios at four thirty, waving off cheers of "Have fun!" and "Take me with you!", hurrying through the lobby, jogging a short block to catch the uptown C. She needed to pick up a daughter and possibly husband in Brooklyn, then be back in Manhattan for the 5:41 p.m. train to New Haven. Reunion check-in closed at eight. If the train arrived on time, she'd make it easy.

If not? If any of the dizzying array of pitfalls inherent in teenagers and public transit popped up? Sam guessed they were sleeping on the street.

Half an hour later, she hiked three flights of stairs with key at the ready. The apartment was unlocked.

"Joss?" she called. "You are packed, yes?"

Her daughter's door was closed, but guitar chords thwanged through. Sam stepped around French bread pizza and a stack of indie music magazines to pound twice.

"Not telling you what to wear," she yelled, "but I suggest a dress or dress-like garment for Saturday night."

The music inside dulled, indicating Sam had been heard. The warning bell had been sounded. She found an oversize duffel bag in the hall closet and tossed in her stuff: toiletries, three-odd outfits for the weekend, Zoom audio recorder.

About outfits: Sam both cared and didn't care. She was forty-three. Her classmates were forty-three, give or take. Nobody should go rocking a prom dress, but they weren't dead yet either. She brought dark-red sleeveless, plus yellow floral in case of glorious weather.

"Leaving twelve minutes!" she said through Joss's door. "Zero wiggle situation."

Tight timelines didn't bother Sam—the studio commonly dropped post-production on her for shows that were airing in mere hours. Packing now, she thought pleasurably of the friends she'd see at the reunion. Laurel in from San Francisco. Jen Pereido. Naomi, even though she was still recovering from the birth of her fourth(!) child.

From her own daughter's room came a squeal, streaked with joy. The noise pinched Sam's heart. Her husband Abe was in there—they'd probably harmonized on some new melody. Which was awesome. Truly. Except that it was 4:48.

She opened the door. "I hate to be Yoko, but the time's come to break up. Leaving in five minutes."

Fourteen-year-old Joss looked up from fingering the neck of her guitar, still grinning. Abe sat cross-legged on the floor with the Yamaha across his knees, a kind of strung-out, hipster Dalai Lama. Both appeared stumped.

Sam said, "Yale? My alma mater, where you've been dying to go for months?"

Joss's grin vanished. "Dad said you were leaving whenever! Isn't it like an all-weekend thing? Today's only Thursday."

"Yes, but in order to check in Thursday night, as I hope to," Sam said, patiently as she could, "we need to arrive on campus by eight o'clock."

"That's ridiculous, I've barely even looked at clothes."

"Then look quickly. I'm winging it myself."

Joss shot upright, dropping her guitar with a clang against the bed. "I'm not going to Yale on, like, zero notice. You can't just spring this on me."

"I sprung no thing on no body. We discussed timing last night, and this afternoon I sent your father four texts—every hour, on the hour—reminding him."

"But those go to his phone," Joss said. "Remember, I don't have one? Because you won't let me?"

Sam stretched one arm laboriously toward the ceiling, focusing on good breaths. Apparently, they were skimming right over Abe's not passing along the messages. His long-running campaign to absolve himself of any and all responsibility—waged by a steady pattern of never giving a crap for anyone but himself—had succeeded at last.