“Oh,” said Bill. “I must have had it wrong. To me, Christmas Eve always seems longer.”

Lucy sighed. “I wish it was the longest day. I need a long day to fit in everything I have to do.”

“I want to work on the Dempsey house this morning and make up some of the time I lost earlier this week. I’ll try to knock off a little early so I’ll be here when my folks arrive.”

“Okay. I have to go grocery shopping and do some last-minute errands.”

“What about us? What’ll we do?” Toby demanded.

“You’re going to stay home with Grandma,” asserted Lucy. “Maybe she’ll show you how to make popcorn chains.”

“I have a better idea,” said Helen, entering the kitchen and heading straight for the coffeepot. “We’ll eat the popcorn and make paper chains.”

“Okay,” agreed Toby. “That sounds like fun.”

Lucy felt light-hearted as she slammed the hatchback shut on twelve brown bags of groceries. She’d put in a busy morning doing a lightning job of housecleaning by dusting the tabletops, fluffing the couch pillows, and bundling all extraneous objects into a large trash bag, which she’d stuffed in the back of her closet. When she’d left the house her mother had been vacuuming the rugs and the girls had been chattering away with her, asking what Christmas was like when she was a little girl. Now Lucy had just one errand left, and that was to pick up the kittens.

She carefully followed the directions she’d been given and soon found herself on a road she didn’t know in a part of town she’d never seen before. Scattered along the road, like toys left on the living room floor and then forgotten by a careless child, were worn-out house trailers, shacks constructed from bits and pieces of other buildings, and an assortment of battered, rusting cars and trucks. Lucy pulled up in front of a little brown house with rough-sawn siding that had probably once been a hunting camp.

She stepped cautiously onto a rotting step and knocked timidly on the door. She was surprised when it was opened by a pretty girl with dark hair. She didn’t look more than seventeen, wearing a bright T-shirt and jeans and balancing a plump, nearly naked baby on her hip. Her eyes were suspicious and defensive as she looked Lucy over, but she had an air of vulnerability that Lucy found attractive.

“I’ve come about the kittens,” explained Lucy, indicating the plastic cat carrier she was holding.

“Oh, great, come on in!” said the girl, revealing a beautiful, wide smile. She opened the door and stood aside. “I’m Lisa Young,” she said, introducing herself. “Never mind the house. Honestly, with this heater it’s full blast or nothing. Now, where are those kittens?”