Summary

Vic gets her first call from Christmasland in November. She is living with Lou in Colorado when Brad McCauley calls her saying he is the boy from the Sleigh House and that they are getting hungry. She hangs up and calls the operator to get the number but is told no calls have come in. Lou works in a garage he opens with help from his parents, and they live in a trailer park just outside of Gunbarrel. Vic takes the keys to their big Ford and drives it down a dirt road into a pine forest, feeling the nearness of the Shorter Way Bridge. She drives fast, but she can't find the bridge. She wonders if she needs a bike again. She returns and sits in the garage for some time until Lou comes out to check...