She lay there listening to her teen-aged sister’s slow breathing from the twin bed across the room and could tell her sister was asleep. No lights came from the hall. No voices from the television in the living room

She thought, I could sneak to the Christmas tree, look around quickly, and be back in bed before anyone notices.  She propped Teddy, her stuffed bear, up in the corner of her own bed by the wall.  Folded back the blankets, and slipped her feet onto the floor. She paused. She listened.  Her sister’s little snore hadn’t changed, so she knew she was still asleep.

She rose to her feet and tip toed across the linoleum floor, pushed aside the tattered curtain that served as a door to the bedroom, and peered into the hall.  No one was there.  She stretched her neck, ear to the right, toward the other bedrooms…