“I am so dead!” Alice yanked off the sheet and swung her feet toward the ground. By the time she reached her dresser, the tee-shirt she’d been sleeping in was a crumbled afterthought in the corner. She wriggled into clean clothes, squeezed a blob of toothpaste onto a finger, and shot an angry look at her traitorous alarm clock which stared back, dark and blank. Her wristwatch flashed 7:37 AM, giving her exactly 23 minutes to get out of the apartment, catch the subway, travel the four stops to Columbia, and high-tail it across campus. First biology quiz of the year, and she was not about to jeopardize a perfect GPA over…

Alan knew he was in trouble as soon as he heard the vibrations from the passenger seat. The clock on the dash indicated it was already well past 7:30 PM, and he didn’t have to look at the cellphone’s screen to know that Liz was on the other end of that angry buzz.  Alan hit the phone icon on the console. “Liz?” “Alan!” “Honey, I’m sorry I’m so late. I got stuck in the lab, and the guy behind the counter at the Chinese place was slower than molasses, and –” “Alan, listen to me –” “Please don’t cancel date night. I already have the food, and I can bring…