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I thought the sht be to take one of those cars froe with the rest of theht, because he raised his voice above the din and said, "One would be well-advised to stay as far away as possible fro to these people, Mr Thomas On foot Hurry now"

I ran past the parked vehicles toward the driveway, but before I had reached the place where the overhanging pines formed a tunnel that continued all the way out to the state route, a colossal noise broughtaround and around, as though it were caught in a tornado, the trailer torn open as if it were no sturdier than a juice box, the entire vehicle casting off parts of itself--until abruptly it collapsed and lay in ruin, as though a giant invisible child had grown tired of playing with it

Mr Hitchcock appeared at ht be difficult for you to believe, considering my movies, but I was always squeamish in life and remain so to a lesser extent even now This is not a place I wish to be"

A couple of SUVs were pulling out of the parking area, but they didn’t get far Both tumbled away as if they had been hit hard by the shock waves of a powerful explosion, though no explosion had occurred The other vehicles began to rock back and forth, shuddering together into a tighter and tighter space, as if they were inside a circular car-co machine similar to those that reduce a full-size sedan into a cube of h this one would be a disc or a ball of many vehicles Windshields burst, metal squealed and crackled--and the people trapped in the cars screa faestive of decomposition I had experienced this malodor only once before, when it cah the steel filigree of the elaborate gate of syain I felt the chill draft that came with the smell, not like a breath as before but a full breeze that prickled lanced toward the lake, I saw torchlight reflected on water The link between this place and the wasteland had been broken But the thing that Lyle Hetland had conjured and contained in his eighteen-wheeler was loose now and intent on kicking butt

A cultist appeared on foot, running for the driveway Spun off his feet, flailing at nothing I could see, he suddenly came apart in midair in such a spectacular fashion that I recalled Mr Hitchcock’s warning about dis the tunnel for the private lane, the racket behindinto the air, but I passed the halfway point withI saw the portly director standing on the farther side of the low ranch-style gate, where he had fled in his ical way He waved at otten the e and acted on it

Thetumult behind me instantly ceased Startled by the sudden hush, I stopped, turned, and peered back The house and grounds were at too great a distance for ned there

Mr Hitchcock said, "They are quite loath to be overheard by neighbors even though none are close, so a certain spell was laid down around the periatepost, setting foot in the tree-canopied lane once ht have been that of the celestial foundry where entire worlds were cast and set spinning I preferred the silence where the director stood, and I returned to hiht The er seemed like a ship on a dark sea It ht suddenly open to stare out fros that swaddled a mummy’s face

"Sir," I asked worriedly, "when does it stop--the destruction, the revenge?"

"Never fear, Mr Thoe will be restricted to this property"

"Entity" I let the word have its rhyth that it would make more sense to me I knew its definition It just didn’tin this world, you see Now that it has been released from its bonds, it will settle scores, so to speak, and then depart"

"You’re sure?"

"Very"

"Entity," I said

"This is all new to you, Mr Thomas Now that you’ve learned a bit more about the true nature of the world, you’re worried that fro after another"

"Yes, sir My very thought"

"Take heart It’s unlikely that anything this spectacular will ever happen to you again"

"How unlikely?"

"Highly"

"Entity," I said again

"Give it tiive it a little tio"

From two hundred feet uphill, where she was parked on the shoulder of the state route, Mrs Fischer switched on the headlights of the limousine, flashed them at me a couple of times, and then switched theathered, Mr Thomas Not a one was lost or even injured"

"Good old Boo"

"Dogs," he said with evident fondness "I have always had dogs As will you, Mr Thomas"

"You can call me Odd I’d like that Or Oddie"

"Yes, Mr Thomas And you may call me Hitch"

"Yes, sir Thank you, sir"

Mr Hitchcock chose neither to dematerialize like an ordinary spirit nor to float swiftly ahead of round He walked at my side, one hand on my shoulder

"When I was alive in the material sense," he said, "I hadof a glutton as regards both food and drink"

I had no idea where this was leading

"I remember once at the Chelsea Arts Ball at the Albert Hall, in London, I hadsuddenly see I’ine you reeling around, out of control" As a director he was known as a perfectionist and a control freak

"Oh, I didn’t embarrass my patient wife in that way I sie in conversation, which made me appear to be bored and rude"

We walked a few steps in silence

He said, "I was raised by Jesuits, you know They were fierce disciplinarians I lived in horror of the prior and his punishments, so much so that, as a boy, I developed a ht be considered bad I came to fear my own capacity for evil and error, which developed into a dread of authority that was almost phobic"

Perhaps it was best that I not ask what capacity for evil the director of Psycho had worried about in hiht have iined

"As an adult, I loved to drive, to be behind the wheel with open road ahead But I so dreaded being stopped by a traffic cop--dreaded it like death, Mr Tho to Alma or hired drivers even before I could afford to hire the, but fearing your capacity for doing the wrong thing, so that you retreat from many aspects of life, is a terrible error in itself"

If I’d had a father capable of wisdoht have been what it would have felt like

I said, "My girl, Stormy Llewellyn, she was the best person I’ve ever known She was a, sir She believed that this life is not the first of two but the first of three"

"Quite the philosopher for a young lady orked in an ice-creae

After the scene that I had just witnessed, nothing ht

I said, "Stormy called this life boot cah all this world’s obstacles and all the wounds that it inflicts if ant to earn a second life We’re in training, see After boot camp, there’s what she called service Our life of service will be full of tremendous adventure, as if you had rolled all the adventure novels ever written into one"

"And the third life, Mr Thoht that after we finish service, then we receive our eternal life"