When they're all inside, Dad peeks out around the edge of the heavy draw-curtain at the window. No sign of anything out there. He heaves a sigh of relief, and Mom turns the lights on. Let's get to sleep early. Long way to go tomorrow.
Mom starts to laugh and they all join in.
Halvard Johnson received a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant in fiction for 1995, an NEA fellowship in poetry for 1990, Baltimore City Arts grants for poetry for 1991 and 1992, five poetry fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and one poetry fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation. Currently, he teaches in Maryland for Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland University College, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Towson State University. He resides in Baltimore with his wife, the prize-winning fiction writer and painter Lynda Schor.