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"Yeah I took soh"

"So the effects don’t last that long"

"The side effects don’t last that long The effects will last the rest of er

Arnie scratched his forehead

"So, the kids that died, this is that rave overdose, right? I reht they had gotten hold of souy that--"

"I can’t figure out at what point the party got turned into a ‘rave’ in the newspapers There was no technoor PVC pants and there was certainly no raving Freakin’ rave It’s one of those words they throw around to scare old people"

"What color is the interview room down at the precinct?"

"Uh, white It’s flaked off in places, shows institutional green underneath"

"And if I contact Detective Appleton, he’ll re him"

Arnie made notes

"So?" I asked "What do you think?"

"I think you’ve probably got a book here," he said "Flesh it out a little"

"A book? Meaning a work of fiction? Meaning it’s all bullshit?"

Arnie shrugged "It’s nothin’ to me A story is a story I’m just a feature reporter, so the fact that you think it happened is my story But it’s like Whitley Strieber, writes that book about aliens Nobody would ever have heard of it, except he sells it as nonfiction, swears to the end that it all really happened"

His eyes flicked over to the littlewith it

"Well, I’ht to label the guy a fraud, Arnie"

"Exactly He’s got a nice house, though His own radio show Played by Christopher Walken in a movie Wouldn’t you like that? You know, I don’t ree in my pocket You could have slipped those coins towith your dream? Coht-of-hand artist in Vegas who, as part of his shoould call solasses off their face No kidding He’d send the poor sap back to his seat and he’d be squinting around, tryin’ to figure out why he couldn’t see all of a sudden There’s no uy doesn’t know about"

I stood up "Come with me I wanna show you somethin’ In my truck"

We ht it after o in aall vehicles ever totaled in vehicle history

I approached the rear and dropped the tailgate, revealing a white sheet covering a large box the size of one of those plastic portable dog carriers Not coincidentally, it was a portable dog carrier

"What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen, Arnie?"

He grinned, looking over the box Like a damn kid at Christ crazy box! Let’s all huan, "I was down in htbulbs that hang down, you know? So it’s all shadows, and your shadow kind of stretches out across the floor Anyway, one time, out the corner of my eye, you know, it sort of looked like my shadow back there wasand the shadoas just wavering back and forth, Iaround Real fast, too It was just for a second and like I said, it was just one of those tricks of light you get out the corner of your eye But I tell ya, I didn’t go back down there until it was broad daylight out Is what you got in there gonna beat that?"

"I need you to get in that hts on and the whole world’s solid and lined up real neat But down in that bases I need you to open yourself up like that Okay?"

"It was just so there, Mr Wong"

"Just hu pause

"Do you see it?"

"No Or, you know, it’s an e at me You should see the box out the corner of your eye, just like the shadow in the base patience fast

"Do you ever go in the bathrooht, Arnie, and for a second, just a split second, you gli in the ht on and, of course, everything’s fine again But for just a half a second,the room, you see out the corner of your eye that it isn’t you in theback at you is so not very huo back inside, okay? Your story wasto die, Arnie Soardless of what you believe, at that moment either you will face co you can’t possibly ier that you also can’t possibly iine On an actual day in the future, you will be in the uniinable, Arnie Set your mind on that"

Silence, for a few seconds Arnie nodded a little

"Okay"

"Noithout turning your head, look at the box"

Arnie did, recoiled, yelped, stuasped "Shit!! What the shit is that? Sh-shit! Shit!"

I threw the sheet back over the box and closed up the Bronco Arnie scrambled to his feet and backed up ten steps, halfway to the door of the restaurant