Very early the next morning, Natasha woke to find herself snugly tucked and zipped up inside of a sleeping bag. The sunrise moments lit the sky in nearly the same fashion as the previous evening's dusk. It all looked very familiar to her, as she realized she was laid near the same spot as where she had been taken the night before! As she unzipped the sleeping back, she felt a big envelope inside, next to her leg. She grabbed the envelope and opened it. Inside, in very fancy, curvy script was written:
"Thank you sweetie. We thoroughly enjoyed your company. Hope you enjoyed ours. You were very exhausted by the time we finished, and you fell asleep. We put you here in the sleeping bag, but watched over you to make sure no bugs, animals, or anything else harmed you. You slept very comfortably. By the time you are reading this note, we will be long gone. But, we will never forget you, love."
Natasha suddenly realized she had to get home quickly before any of her family awoke! She got up all of a sudden, left the sleeping bag where it was, and briskly walked home. It took all of another 30 minutes to reach her front door.
As she walked into the house, she smelled the usual morning feasts of her home. Sh arrived just as breakfast was being served.
"Welcome back dear!!", her mother approached in a happy mood, wearing an oven mitten on each hand, as Natasha entered the house. "Did you have a good time at your sleepover at your friend''s house!?!" Natasha did not know how to answer that, so she just nodded and smiled.
At first ,she thought her mother was joking with her. But she quickly realized it was an innocent question.
"You should be glad you were not home last night!" her mother exclaimed, walking back to the kitchen, intermittently turning around to make sure Natasha was following her in. "We had a black out last night, no electricity and no phone signal! I was glad you weren't here to experience it!" Her mother explained.
Then Natasha put it all together. She had originally planned a sleep over with her friend Margot. But, at the last minute, before leaving for the movies yesterday evening, Margot called had informed her that Natasha that Margot's parents were having some work-related gathering, and Margot was not allowed to have company or a sleep-over last night. Natasha had completely forgotten to tell her mother!
She had been late leaving for the movies, and just assumed someone would get her from the movies and she would notify them at that time that she was not going to the sleep-over. Natasha realized her mother must have assumed she was going straight from the theater, which is why no one had picked her up!
After putting it all together in a split second, she finally responded "It was OK, I just missed my own bed, and my own bathroom. I am going to take a bath and then will be back down to have breakfast."