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"I guess not," Paul said

"So you’ll call eist involved here, Mr Alsgood If I keep looking long enough and hard enough, I’ll find a perfectly logical explanation for what’s been happening But on the off-chance that it is a ive you a call the ood wasn’t able to see anything a about their conversation He frohen he detected levity in Paul’s voice, and he said, "I didn’t really expect you to take rateful for--"

"No, no," Alsgood said, waving him to silence

"I understand No offense taken" The exciteone out of his watery eyes "You’ve been raised to believe strictly in science You’ve been taught to put your faith only in things that can be seen and touched and measured That’s the modem way" His shoulders slurayish, and slack, as it had been a few hosts is as pointless as trying to convince a deep-sea creature that there are such things as birds It’s sad but true, and I have no reason to be angry about it"

He opened the front door, and the sound of the rain grew louder "Anyway, for your sake, I hope it isn’t a poltergeist you’ve got here I hope you find that logical explanation you’re looking for I really do, Mr Tracy"

Before Paul could respond, Alsgood turned and walked out into the rain He no longer seemed like a zealot; there was no trace of passion in hiray ray rain, illuht of the storhost hiainst it, and looked around the hall, through the nearest archhich opened onto the living rooood’s other suggestion: that the haht simply stop as suddenly and inexplicably as it had started, without the cause ever being known

He glanced at his watch 6:06

Carol had said she would reht o’clock and would then coave him an hour or so to work on his novel before he had to start cooking dinner-- broiled chicken breasts, steareen pepper

He went upstairs to his office and sat down at the typewriter He picked up the last page he had written, intending to reread it a few tiet back into the

THUNK! THUNK!

The house shook The s rattled

He bolted up from his chair

THUNK!

On his desk, the jar full of pens and pencils toppled over, cracked into several pieces, and spilled its contents onto the floor

Silence

He waited One

There was no sound except the snapping of the rain against the s and the dru of it on the roof

Only three hammer blows this time Harder than any that had coaht, in roohed softly in her sleep

Outside her , lightning pulsed, and the night flickered, and the darkness seeer beast

The girl turned onto her sto, murh "The ax "

On the stroke of ht, just forty minutes after she had fallen asleep, Carol bolted up froled out of the grip of her night!" She stared wildly, blindly into the lightless room until she realized the panic-stricken voice had been her own

Suddenly she could not tolerate the darkness one second longer She fumbled desperately for the switch on the bedside laht didn’t disturb Paul He ainst the headboard and listened to her racing heart as it gradually slowed to a normal beat

Her hands were icy She put the fists

The nighth this every night I need my sleep

Perhaps a vacation was called for She had been working too hard for too long The accumulated weariness was probably partly to blareat deal of unusual stress lately: the pending adoption, the near-tragic events in O’Brian’s office on Wednesday, the accident just yesterday irl’s a with too ht A week in the mountains, away from everyday problems, seemed like the perfect medicine

In addition to all the other sources of stress, that day was approaching, the birthday of the child she had put up for adoption A week from tomorrow, the

Saturday after next, would mark sixteen years since she had relinquished the baby Already, eight days in advance of that anniversary, she was burdened by a heavy uilt By the time next Saturday rolled around, she would hly depressed, as usual A week in the ht be the perfect medicine for that ailment, too

Last year, she and Paul had purchased a vacation cabin on an acre of timbered land in the mountains It was a cozy place--two bedroo stone fireplace, and a complete kitchen--a retreat that combined all the comforts of civilization with the clean air, marvelous scenery, and tranquility that could not be found in the city

They had planned to get away to the cabin at least teekends everythe summer, but they had made the trip only three times in the past four months, less than half as often as they had hoped

Paul had labored hard to meet a series of self-imposed deadlines on his novel, and she had taken on more patients--a couple of really troubled kids who simply could not be turned away--and for both herself and Paul, work had expanded to fill every spare moment Perhaps they were the overachievers that Alfred O’Brian had thought they e e have a child, Carol told herself We’ll s because creating the best environ forward to htly fresh in herher life from this moment on They would take off a few days, o to theat the end of the month, so they would be rested and composed when at last they met the child ould be theirs They couldn’t take off this co week, of course She would need time to reschedule her appointments Besides, she didn’t want to leave town until Jane Doe’s parents showed up and properly identified the girl; that ht to be able to carve a large chunk of time out of the week after next, and shein thereached that decision, she felt better The mere prospect of a vacation, even a brief one, relieved much of her tension

She looked at Paul and said, "I love you"

He continued to snore softly

Sht and settled under the covers again For a couple of minutes she listened to the rain and to her husband’s rhyth sleep