Monday morning announced itself with a powdery snowfall. The snow started well before dawn, as Danica left for work. She cut her car through the silent streets, feeling as if she were driving through a snow globe.

She parked in her usual spot, a couple of blocks away from the Dunder Mifflin car lot. The snow collected, forming into a frothy layer over the ground. A lone trail of footsteps marked Danica's path to the emergency stairs, but they soon would disappear. She lingered outside, to prolong the peaceful moment. When sunlight approached, and Dwight arrived, she was sorry to end her vigil.

She planned her entrance for the office much earlier than usual. Michael came in, greeting her with a long song and dance routine to Ricky Martin. "A little bit of Dan-i-ca in my mind."

By chance, Danica was in the main office when Kelly entered with Ryan, or at least they entered at the same time. Ryan said, "It should be fun," while Kelly beamed dreamily at him.

Ryan spotted Danica and his face went slack. He excused himself to Kelly, who was too ecstatic to notice his hasty departure, and approached Danica.

"Hey," he said. "Since we're getting some snow, some business school buddies and I are planning on getting to Blue Mountain for some skiing and snow tubing. You been there yet?"

Danica murmured no.

"You should come. I already invited Kelly." He threw his arm back to the entrance, where Kelly remained, staring starry eyed into nothing.

"Maybe," Danica hesitated. Weather was her biggest concern, but Ryan mistook her reluctance for relationship weirdness. And she let him. "I'll check. Can I get back to you in a day or two?"

"Sure."

"Snow tubing," Ryan says wryly, "is the second biggest extreme sport in the area. The biggest extreme sport is trying not to die from boredom."

Danica retreated to her office. A minute later, Kelly floated in.

"Ohmigod, Danica!" A squeal burst out as Kelly dashed forward, bouncing up and down as she clasped Danica's hands. "He asked me to Blue Mountain. I knew he would. This is the best day of my life!"

Kelly did not acknowledge that Danica was also invited, or that Ryan's business school friends would be there. "Just imagine. Ryan and me sitting cozy in the lodge, sharing hot chocolate. Oh, Danica it will be so romantic."

Danica was spared from more of Kelly's talk about her "date" when Michael cut in, insisting that they get to the meeting room with everyone else.

"Right, Movie Monday." Kelly finally snapped out of her daydream. "I'd better get my notebook."

.

The office sat through the last section of The Wedding Singer, (with Jim fidgeting through Adam Sandler's grand declaration of love). Finally the movie ended and the employees dispersed to catch up on their work.

After Danica and Kelly finished returning the calls they missed, Danica wandered to the main office. Ryan was at Creed's computer, trying to extract a disc that was wedged in the drive.

A fetid smell hit her when she neared Creed's desk. Knowing that Ryan's desk joined Creed's, she asked, "Do you have to smell this all the time?"

"Pretty much." Ryan finally worked out the disc. It appeared Creed had tried to jam a Zip disc into a floppy drive. In twenty years or so, I might be making mistakes like that, Danica thought, though her vegetarian brethren had managed to keep up-to-date with technology.

Danica identified the offending drawer and opened it. Round mung beans were spread out on a paper towel in the drawer.

"Good guess," Ryan complimented. "At this point, the smell kind of permeates the entire desk."

"Has he heard of Ziploc bags?" Danica said.

"Probably not."

Danica slammed the drawer shut.

"Kelly's really excited about the Blue Mountain trip," she said. She had not come here to talk about the weekend plans, but it made more sense than commenting on rotting food in desk drawers.

"Have you decided to come?" Ryan lifted his head.

"Not yet," Danica thought fast. "My cousins are planning on stopping by."

That lie retained a grain of truth. She was sure Jane or Alec would visit her between now and the next week.

"Oh," Ryan said. "That's unfortunate timing."

"It is," Danica said, realizing she regretted declining his invitation more than she could have imagined. "But it cannot be helped."