11:30 p.m.--It's a quiet night. Bell decides to go downstairs to play Continuum on the Science Center computers. He takes a beeper with him. The phone sits quietly on the floor under the harsh light of a flickering flourescent.

"If we had more people and the weather wasn't so bad, we'd send an escort pair out walking," says VanDyke. "If a call came in, we would give them a beep and they'd call us back."

11:45 p.m.--Ford, supervisor for the night, reads from an enormous government sourcebook. SafeStreets encourages people to work the same nights, so they get to know their night's regular supervisor. One of 12 supervisors, Ford usually works Mondays, but is covering for a friend on this Saturday night. All volunteers must find their own replacements if they are unable to work on a night for which they have signed up.

12:10 a.m.--VanDyke, using his jacket as a pillow, tries to fall asleep on the floor. Usually someone brings a radio, members say, but things were rushed this evening.

12:15 a.m.--Three people stop by the classroom-turned-office. Staffers eagerly ask if they need an escort. But they don't--they are merely dropping by to see if a friend of theirs, a Saturday night regular, is working. He's not.

12:20 a.m.--Bell returns from downstairs. He had switched video games--from Continuum to Dark Castle. "Addictive stuff," he says. Bell and VanDyke decide to leave the office on a quest for food, making sure to carry a beeper with them.

SafeStreets spends an average of $5 nightly to purchase snacks and drinks for the team. The money comes from a fund created by the grants from the council and Epps' office, which currently totals $1130 and is controlled by Sosland. SafeStreets volunteers who purchase food for the night are reimbursed, and the fund has also financed the initial purchase of equipment, telephone bills and publicity.

12:45 a.m.--The five students in the office sit on the floor, drinking Coke from paper cups and eating a raspberry danish twist. The talk turns to the house system and concentrations. There have been no calls, but members say this is a peculiarly slow night.

"A significant portion of our work comes from people staying up late in the Science Center to work on computers or to study," says Bell. "But even then, we average about four to six calls on weekdays and a little more on weekends, mostly from women. That average excludes the first two weeks of operation when virtual nobody knew about us."

12:50 a.m.--A call! VanDyke and Bell quickly don their raincoats and shoes as Ford takes the message. Turns out to be a false alarm: the student meant to call the car escort. The raincoats and shoes come off.

1:00 a.m.--The SafeStreets volunteers are keeping busy. By using the computer terminal in the corner of the room, they've managed to contact students on terminals at Stanford. They'll converse on-screen with about four different people in the course of the shift. The three-hour time difference makes California an ideal location to contact at 4 a.m.

1:30 a.m.--Natalie A. Angstreich '89 visits the office and asks for to be escorted to Mather. She had been at the Science Center reading.

"I've used SafeStreets several times since it started. Recent incidents have made me determined not to walk through the Yard alone," says Angstreich.

2:00 a.m.--VanDyke and Bell return. Computerized conversations with Stanford students resume.

2:55 a.m.--A call comes in from the Loeb Theater. Someone at the theater needs an escort to Cabot. This time it is Van Dyke and Ford who head out into the rain. The pavement is littered with worms, around which the pair tries to maneuver.