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That is, he had been happy except for those occasions, usually one week a le was insufferable Frank tolerated the le was a slob His hair often needed washing He always missed a patch of bristles when he shaved His uniform rinkled, and his boots were never shined He was too big in the gut, too big in the hips, too big in the butt

Wargle was a bore He had absolutely no sense of hu opinions about every current social and political issue

Wargle was a creep He was forty-five years old, and he still picked His nose in public He belched and farted with aplole said, "I’oddamned o’clock! It’s not fair for Hammond to pull me for this Snowfield crap And me with a hot number all lined up"

Frank didn’t take the bait He didn’t ask who Wargle had a date with He just drove the car and kept his eyes on the road and hoped that Wargle wouldn’t tell him who this "hot number" was

"She’s a waitress over at Spanky’s Diner," Wargle said "Maybe you seen her Blond broad Name’s Beatrice; they call her Bea"

"I seldom stop at Spanky’s," Frank said

"Oh Well, she don’t have a half-bad face, see One hell of a set of knockers She’s got a few extra pounds on her, not much, but she thinks she looks worse than she does Insecurity, see? So if you play her right, if you kind of work on her doubts about herself, see, and then if you say you want her, anyway, in spite of the fact that she’s let herself get a little pudgy why, hell, she’ll do any dahed as if he had said so unbearably funny

Frank wanted to punch hile was a woman-hater He spoke of women as if they were members of another, lesser species The idea of a hts with a woman, the idea that a woman could be loved, cherished, adht and hule

Frank Autry, on the other hand, had been married to his lovely Ruth for twenty-six years He adored her Although he kneas a selfish thought, he sometimes prayed that he would be the first to die, so that he wouldn’t have to handle life without Ruth

"That fuckin’ HaHe don’t like the way I keep my uniform He don’t like the way I write up my reports He told me I should try to improve my attitude Christ, et it I’ll hang in five et my thirty-year pension That bastard won’t squeeze o, voters in the city of Santa Mira approved a ballot initiative that dissolved thelaw enforcement for the city into the hands of the county sheriff’s department It was a vote of confidence in Bryce Hammond, who had built the county department, but one provision of the initiative required that no city officers lose their jobs or pensions because of the transfer of power Thus, Bryce Hale

They reached the Snowfield turnoff

Frank glanced in the mirror and saw the third patrol car pull out of the three-car train As planned, it swung across the entrance to Snowfield road, setting up a blockade

Sheriff Hammond’s car continued on toward Snowfield, and Frank followed it

"Why the hell did we have to bring water?" Wargle asked

Three five-gallon bottles of water stood on the floor in the back of the car Frank said, "The water in Snowfield ht be contaminated"

"And all that food we loaded into the trunk?"

"We can’t trust the food up there, either"

"I don’t believe they’re all dead"

"The sheriff couldn’t raise Paul Henderson at the substation"

"So what? Henderson’s a jerk-off"

"The doctor up there said Henderson’s dead, along with-"

"Christ, the doctor’s off her nut or drunk Who the hell would go to a woh medical school"

"What?"

"No broad has what it takes to earn a degree like that!"

"Wargle, you never cease to a Forget it"

Wargle belched "Well, I don’t believe they’re all dead"

Another probleination "What a lot of crap And me lined up with a hot nuination Perhaps too good As he drove higher into the n that read SNOWFIELD 3 MILES, his i like a well-lubricated -Preht into Hell

The firehouse siren screa cacophony clattered through the town

"Jenny!" Lisa shouted

"Keep your eyes open! Look for movement!"

The street was a patchwork of ten thousand shadows; there were too many dark places to watch

The siren wailed, and the bell rang, and now the lights began to flash again-hid,)use lights, shop lights, streetlights on and off, on and off so rapidly that they created a strobelike effect Skyline Road flickered; the buildings seemed to jump toward the street, then fall back, then jump forward; the shadows danced jerkily

Jenny turned in a complete circle, the revolver thrust out in front of her

If soht show, she couldn’t see it

She thought: What if, when the sheriff arrives, he finds two severed heads in the middle of the street? Mine and Lisa’s

The church bell was louder than ever, and it banged away continuously,screech It seemed a miracle that s didn’t shatter

Lisa had her hands over her ears

Jenny’s gun hand was shaking She couldn’t keep it steady

Then, as abruptly as the pandeun, it ceased The siren died The church bell stopped The lights stayed on

Jenny scanned the street, waiting for so happened

Again, the toas as tranquil as a graveyard

A wind sprang out of nowhere and caused the trees to sway, as if responding to ethereal

Lisa shook herself out of a daze and said, "It was al us"

"Teasing," Jenny said, "Yes, that’s exactly what it was like"

"Playing with us"

"Like a cat with mice," Jenny said softly

They stood in the o back to the bench in front of the town jail, lest their ain

Suddenly, they heard a low gruhtened She raised the gun onceat which to shoot Then she recognized the sound: auto up the steep arew louder A car appeared around the curve, at the bottohts A police car Two police cars