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I also rented shoes and played eight or ten ga ular bowler, I would spend far e alcoholic hobo

Over sixtyat least once each year Nine ues and regularly compete in amateur tournaments

When Stornificant percentage of thoseballs down polished lanes toward more spares than splits, butone another, eating na­chos, eating chili-cheese fries, drinking beer, and having such a good ti this place to har­vest a sudden crop of souls

Difficult but not impossible

I ht?"

"Yeah Okay I’ balls and the clatter of tenpins had never previously struck ular se­ries of rumbles and crashes strummed my nerves

"What now?" Stormy asked

"Good question No answer"

"You want to just wander around, scope the scene, see if you get any bad vibes?"

I nodded "Yeah Scope the scene Bad vibes"

We didn’t wander far before I saw souy behind the shoe-rental counter had not come to work in the usual black slacks and blue cotton shirt hite collar He wore tan slacks and a green polo shirt, like the dead people inbusy roootten new uniforhtmare, this one of mine was vivid and yet not rich in detail, more surreal than real, not specific as to place or time or cir­cuony, distorted by terror and shadow and strange light, and when I woke, I could never describe the woman She would be shot in the chest and throat, but her face would rey blond hair, green eyes, and a small beauty mark on her upper lip, near the left corner of her mouth

As Stormy and I proceeded farther into Green Moon Lanes, I saw the blonde fro draft beer from one of the taps

TWENTY-THREE

STORMY AND I SAT AT A TABLE IN THE BAR ALCOVE, BUT we didn’t order drinks I was already half drunk with fear

I wanted to get her out of the bowling alley She didn’t want to leave

"We’ve got to deal with this situation," she insisted

The only way that I could deal with it was to phone Chief Wyatt Porter and tell him, with little explanation, that when Bob Robertson had his coed mur­derous psychopath, the site of his debutante ball was likely to be Green Moon Lanes

For a man tired from a day of hard work, bloated with barbecue and beer, and ready for bed, the chief responded with admirable quickness and clarity of er in my left ear to block the alley noise, I said, "I think until ht, sir"

‘A little ht now, have him stand security, be on the lookout for Robertson But, son, you said this ust fifteenth - toe in his file I’m not sure what it means I won’t be certain it couldn’t happen today until today is over and he hasn’t shot anyone"

"Any of these things you call bodachs there?"

"No, sir But they could shohen he does"

"He hasn’t returned home to Camp’s End yet," the chief said, "so he’s out and about Hoere the churros?"

"Delicious," I told him

"After the barbecue, we had a difficult choice between h carefully and had solimpse of Heaven, sir, it was a slice of Mrs Porter’s peach pie"

"I’d have married her for the peach pie alone, but fortunately she was sood-bye I clipped the cell phone to et out of there

She shook her head "Wait If the blond bartender isn’t here, the shooting won’t happen" She kept her voice low, leaning dose to be heard over the clash and clatter of bowlers bowling "So soet her to leave"

"No A premonition in a dream isn’t in every detail a picture of ex­actly ill happen She could be home safe, and the shooter could show up here anyway"

"But at least she will have been saved One less victiht be shot in her place Like the bartender who replaces her Or ht be, but how can I save one if there’s a likelihood that itballs slammed into pin setups in quick

succession The racket sounded a little like autounfire, I twitched anyway

I said, "I’ve got no right to decide that someone else should die in her place"

Prophetic dreams - and the corateful for that

"Besides," I said, "what’s her reaction going to be if I walk over to the bar and tell her she’s going to be shot to death if she doesn’t get out of here?"

"She’ll think you’re eccentric or dangerous, but she o"

"She won’t She’ll stay there She won’t want to jeopardize her job She won’t want to appear fearful, because that makes her look weak, and these days women don’t want to seeht ask someone to ith her to her car, but that’s all"

Stormy stared at the blonde behind the bar while I surveyed the rooht precede the executioner Nobody here but us humans

"She’s so pretty, so full of life," Stor the bartender "So h"

"She seeht be fated to die young"

"It just see to walk out and leave her there," Stor her a chance"

"The best way to give her a chance, to give all the potential victi"