Bags lit up a smoke, while Don Grant, who had gotten out of bed because he thought he heard footsteps on the porch followed by the slam of a car door, looked down from his bedroom window and watched the beacon from the cigarette swirl in the darkness. He thought it was a pretty odd scene, but then the truck drove away, and he shrugged and went back to bed. He and Linda had plans to finish packing the next day so they could leave for Florida by the end of the weekend, and he was exhausted.

The gang drove by on Sunday afternoon and the manger and reindeer were no longer in the front yard. The three agreed that Danny was the most respectable-looking of the group, so they parked around the corner while he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. If anyone answered, he would just pretend he was looking for directions. No one answered. Tony still wasn’t convinced, so they drove around the front and rear of the house later that night, and it appeared that only a small lamp in the hallway was on, probably managed by the same timer the Grants used for the Christmas lights. Tony felt they needed a little more preparation, so he decided they would wait one more day to do the job. It was a fateful decision.

Around seven o’clock the next night, Danny, Bags, and Tony met in the Turners’ finished basement, ostensibly to play cards and have a few beers, but the real reason was to review their plans and gather their equipment for the night. Because they had easy access to the house, they would not need the usual glass cutter or other tools to bust a lock. Tony pointed out that they would not need to take the pistol they had stashed in the shed or any other weapons, because the house would be empty and they would be in and out in a matter of minutes.

Danny shut the basement door and locked it. He went over to the stereo and turned it up a few notches so his parents wouldn’t hear what they were talking about. Bags lit a bowl and passed it to Tony, trying to hold in the hit for as long as possible. Robert Plant began quietly singing “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” and the guys were completely stoned by the time Jimmy Page started his famous riff. Before long they were on their feet, playing some mean air guitar.