First Day

Back at the house that morning, Rose had already left for her first day on the job at NAWS, bringing in a pile of donuts for her new coworkers at eight o’clock, just on time.
Meanwhile, Collette was preparing for Iceland. Ice caves, mammoth storms, volcanoes, rockfalls, glaciers, geothermal pools, freezing temperatures, the Northern Lights, avalanches, boiling mud pots, earthquakes, quicksand… It all sounded very exciting. And crime seemed to be nonexistent. Two car hijackings in the last year. 200 prisoners in the country. 1,000 policeman, mostly unarmed… Of course, those statistics were all given before their economy collapsed…
Come afternoon, Carrie goaded Linnea into doing the usual, grabbing the mail in the cold of the afternoon.
“I’ll let you select one of three options for your prize when you get back,” Carrie said with a grin.
Linnea looked skeptical until Carrie whispered to Collette what the options were, and Collette assured Linnea that she would like them.
When Linnea returned, Carrie listed them off to her – 1. a one-hour game of Risk, 2. one half-hour on Carrie’s computer, or 3. a shoulder massage.
Linnea chose Risk.
After Puck woke up from another long winter’s nap, he helped Carrie prepare a batch of white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies.