My parents were happy to see me, and welcomed me with big hugs. My bedroom was the same as I'd left it, although Mom had vacuumed in my absence. I looked across the back fence to Melissa's bedroom and saw the light come on briefly. For just a moment I considered grabbing the binoculars but then the light went off and I got back to unpacking.
I had a three-week break between the end of the second summer term and the beginning of the fall semester. Most of my stuff was still in my dorm room on campus, but there were a lot of things I had taken with me that I now realized I would not need. That stuff had all gone into boxes as I figured it out, and I had brought them with me along with several changes of summer clothes.
After sorting all that out, I joined my parents for a late dinner. We t
