Danielle Burns, the Mayor of Crossroads, was working from home today. Her son, Jared, should have been back in school today but he was home with her. He hadn't been feeling good the last few days and she was waiting for the antibiotics that doctor had given them to kick in. While she did not like the idea of him missing school, especially the first one back from winter break, she also didn't want to infect the other students. One nice thing of being the mayor was that she could work for home if she needed to. She was a single mom and, although she worked a challenging job at times, she was able to have a good work and family life balance. Which was very important to her.<br/><br/>Danielle and Jared's home was a nice home but not overly large or expensive. They were pretty well to do, Danielle's father had been Mayor until he had decided to retire. So, the Burns family had always been pretty well off. Her parents had taught her good values that she was trying to pass onto Jared. You didn't have to buy big, fancy things just because you had the money. Other things were far more important, like family. She was talking on the phone with her assistant, who was at her office, when Jared yelled from the living room.<br/><br/>"Mom! There's someone at the window!"<br/><br/>Neighbors always knocked on your window in Crossroads if they wanted to chat. If someone knocked on your actual door, then you had to worry. Danielle told her assistant she call her back, putting her phone into her pants' pocket, and went to see which neighbor it was. She saw Jared laying on the couch with the controller for his Playstation in his hand.<br/><br/>"No way, buster..."<br/><br/>Danielle said, grabbing the wireless controller as she walked past him.<br/><br/>"You don't go to school, you don't get to play games."<br/><br/>Jared pouted a little and replied.<br/><br/>"But I wasn't going to play a game. I was going to watch Youtube."<br/><br/>"Nope, not happening. After I see who is at the window, I'm going find you the most boring show on the Internet to watch."<br/><br/>"That's no fun."<br/><br/>Jared replied, slumping down in the couch. Acting a little younger then his age, which was eleven.<br/><br/>"Tough, missing school isn't supposed to be fun."<br/><br/>Danielle told him, setting the controller on the bookshelf she kept next to the window. She opened her window and smiled at Marianne  Warrender. She had know the Warrenders all her life, which happened when you were born and raised in a small town.<br/><br/>"Hi, Marianne."<br/><br/>She looked up at the sky and saw it was indeed a lot darker then earlier today. She hadn't paid much attention between trying to work and taking care of her son. Did she have laundry out? She looked to her right and saw that there was indeed some things on her clothesline. She had been so busy trying to balance it all, she forgot that she had thrown in doing some chores since she was home too.<br/><br/>"Yes, you're right. I've been so distracted taking care of Jared and trying to work, I forgot all about the laundry. Thanks for the heads up."