Chapter 1

Rachel lay on her back in bed, eyes open, with the sun shining down on her from her waist to past the foot of her bed.  She lay under her old worn pale quilt.  It was her second year after graduating from high school, and she loved not having to get up in the morning and go to school anymore.  Her father and mother were both at work, and she had the house to herself, and no one trying to get her to do anything.

Rachel was awake, and expecting a delivery from United Express this morning.  She had ordered something off the internet.  She had ordered many things lately, and she knew almost exactly when the United Express delivery truck would arrive, and who the driver would be.

She looked at her alarm clock to see how much time she had, 9:45 a.m.  She raised her bedroom window closest to the driveway and the front of the house in order to hear the delivery truck as it drove down the long gravel driveway to the house.  She removed her night clothes, and entered the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom and turned on the shower.

She was happy and in a good mood.  Her mother would not return home until 11:30 a.m. at the earliest.  She would not have to hurry.  She finished her shower, unrushed.  She dried off, brushed her teeth, and put on a robe.  10:05 a.m.

Soon she could hear the United Express panel van approaching the house down the long entrance drive.  She began to smile and smirk, but tried to regain control of her face.  She watched the van come to a stop where it usually did, and the young driver, whom she was expecting, step down from his seat at the front walk, her small package in hand.

She adjusted the sash on her robe so that it was loose, and her robe fell open as she walked to the front door.

Chapter 2

Rob had very little regard or enthusiasm for work.  He was sharp, clever, quick, and street smart.  Most of his class mates could not wait to go to work in the oil field once it was clear that there was going to be another boom back in about 2006.  A few of his acquaintances had offered to get him a job working with them, but he was not interested.  Working outside in the oilfield, it was always dirty, too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, and dangerous.  United Express was thrilled to get Rob, it was hard to get anybody, everybody else wanted to work in the oil field.

This morning Rob handled and sorted the packages that were assigned to his delivery van and his region.  He smiled to himself as he saw the package addressed to Rachel.  Rob knew that no matter what other packages he had to deliver, he had to make sure that he made this delivery to Rachel between 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., because both her mother and father would be at work.  There was no telling who might be at her house any other times during the day.  He knew that he was always able to come up with some explanation and excuse for why he had deviated from a logical efficient route.  Though his supervisor Gary did not like it, there was not much that could be done about it, it was so difficult to get drivers, and Rob was quick.

When Rob’s delivery van was loaded, and he began leaving the yard this clear Fall morning, he was happy that he had this job.  He was not going to get rained on all day, he was not going to get filthy dirty, he was not going to have to be around stupid, ugly, smelly guys.  There was no one yelling at him, and no one telling him what to do.  He laughed to himself, “And on top of it all, he got laid every day while at work.”

(The characters in this novel are fictional, and are not based on real or actual persons.  The events in this novel are fictional. Any resemblance to real or actual persons, or actual events, is entirely coincidental.)