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The wind seemed to have swirled down a drain in the floor of the desert
Beyond the , in the high vault of the night, the stars were sterling-bright, the moon a tarnished silver
When I checked my atch, I was surprised to see 3:17 am Only thirty-six minutes had passed since I had awakened to find Dr Jessup in my bedroom
I had lost all awareness of the hour and had assuht have messed with my watch, but it had messed more effectively with my sense of time
If the tree branches had not embraced so much of the sky, I would have tried to find Cassiopeia, a constellation with special y, Cassiopeia was the mother of Andromeda
Another Cassiopeia, this one no hter whom she named Bronwen And Bronwen is the finest person I have ever known, or ever will
When the constellation of Cassiopeia is in this hemisphere and I am able to identify it, I feel less alone
This isn’t a reasoned response to a configuration of stars, but the heart cannot flourish on logic alone Unreason is an essentialas you do not overdose
In the alley, a police car pulled up at the gate The headlights were doused
I rose from the yard under the tree of death, and if my buttocks had been poisoned, at least they hadn’t yet fallen off
When I got into the front passenger’s seat and pulled the door shut, Chief Porter said, How’s your tongue?
Sir?
Still itch?
Oh No It stopped I hadn’t noticed
This would work better if you took the wheel, wouldn’t it?
Yeah But that would be hard to explain, this being a police car andthe alleyway, the chief switched on the headlights and said, What if I cruise where I want, and when you feel I should turn left or right, you tell me
Let’s try it Because he had switched off the police radio, I said, Won’t they be wanting to reach you?
Back there at the Jessup house? That’s all aftermath The science boys are better at that than I areen eyes Lean and quick Snaky
Are you focusing on hiliot to have a better mental picture--or a name
Simon?
We don’t know for certain that Siainst a dollar that he is, Chief Porter said The killer beat on Wilbur Jessup long after he was dead This was a passionate hoot a kill buddy, maybe someone he met in prison
Just the same, I’ll try for Danny
We drove a couple of blocks in silence
The ere down The air looked clear yet carried the silica scent of the Mojave vastness by which our town is es of crisp leaves, shed by Indian laurels, crunched under the tires
Pico Mundo appeared to have been evacuated
The chief glanced sideways atback to work at the Grille?
Yes, sir Sooner or later
Sooner would be better Folks ood ones, I said, referring to Poke Barnett, the other short-order cook at the Pico Mundo Grille
They’re not so bad you have to choke theue with yours Or his pancakes
Nobody can reed
Is it soift for pancakes
Yes, sir, it seenetized yet or whatever it is you feel?
No, not yet And it would be better if we don’t talk about it, just let it happen
Chief Porter sighed I don’t knohen I’et used to this psychic stuff
I never have, I said Don’t expect I ever will
Strung between the boles of two pale banner declared GO, MONSTERS!
When I attended PMHS, the sports teams were called the Braves Each cheerleader wore a headband with a feather Subsequently, this was deeh none of the Indians ever coineered the replacement of Braves with Gila Monsters The reptile was said to be an ideal choice because it syered environment of the Mojave
In football, basketball, baseball, track, and swi record of the Braves Most people blame it on the coaches
I used to believe that all educated people knew an asteroidhuman civilization But perhaps a lot of the my mind, Chief Porter said, Could’ve been worse The Mojave yellow-banded stink bug is an endangered species They could’ve called the teaested, and he turned at the next intersection
I figured if Si back here, Chief Porter said, he would’ve done it four o, when he was released frohborhood during October and Nove precautions at the house Better door locks An upgraded security systeh to wait Gradually everyone let down their guard Fact is, though, when the cancer took Carol, I didn’t expect Simon would come back to Pico Mundo
Seventeen years previously, jealous to the point of obsession, Si wife had been having an affair He’d been wrong
Certain that assignations had occurred in his own home, when he had been at work, Simon tried to coax the name of any male visitor from his then four-year-old son Because there had been no visitor to identify, Danny had not been able to oblige So Simon picked up the boy by the shoulders and tried to shake the name out of him
Danny’s brittle bones snapped He suffered fractures of two ribs, the left clavicle, the right huht ulna, three ht hand
When he couldn’t shake a naust, breaking his right feht foot
Carol had been grocery shopping at the ti ho, a shattered huht arainst hiht be measured in hours