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No one was in the nearer half of the large chah to hide a man

With the 38 in hand, he circled the car, looked inside it, even eased down onto his creaking knees and peered under it Nobody was hiding there

The exterior e was locked from the inside

So was the only hich in any case was too small to admit anyone older than five

He wondered if the noise had originated on the roof For aup at the rafters, waiting for the thu Just the rain, rain, rain, an unceasing tattoo

Feeling foolish, Ricky returned to the house and locked the connecting door He took the revolver into the kitchen with him and put it on the builtin secretary beside the telephone

The flaone out For a as service had failed, but then he saw that the knobs in front of both burners were in the OFF position

He knew they had been on when he left the kitchen He turned theain, and blue flames ca theht intensity, he stared at them for a while; the flames did not subside of their own accord

Soaun, and considered searching the house again But he had already inspected every inch of the place, and knew for certain that he was alone

Following a brief hesitation, he searched it againwith the same result as the first time

When he returned to the kitchen, no one had turned off the gas The sauce was boiling so rapidly, it had begun to stick to the bottoatoni with a large fork, blew on it to cool it, tasted It was slightly overcooked but okay

He drained the pasta into a colander in the sink, shook the colander, dumped the pasta on a plate, and added sauce

Soah the leafy oleander bushes, encountered the layers of plastic garbage bags that Sa crate, and drained off the plastic into the vacant lot or out into the alleyway Under the rags that served as bedding, the floor of the crate was also lined with plastic, so his hu in water up to his waist, Saht not have noticed, for he had already finished one doubleliter jug of wine and had started a second He was feeling no painr at least that’s what he told hiood, really The cheap wine kept hied him of selfhatred and res and naive expectations of childhood

Two fat blueberryscented candles, salvaged froe and anchored now in a pie pan, filled his sanctuary with a pleasant fragrance and a soft light as cozy as that fro cratewere co rather than claustrophobic The ceaseless chorus of the rain was lulling But for the candles, perhaps it had been soly housed, suspended weightless in amniotic fluid, surrounded by the soft liquid roar of Mother’s blood rushing through her veins and arteries, not merely unconcerned about the future but unaware of it

Even when the rat that served as a door over the only opening in the crate, Sammy was not delivered from his imitation prenatal bliss Deep down, he knew that he was in trouble, but he was too whacked to be afraid

The crate was eight feet by six, as large as many walkin closets

Bearish as he was, the ratman still could have squeezed in across fro over the candles, but he re with one arm

His eyes were different from what they had always been before

Shiny black Without any whites at all Pinpoint yellow pupils in the center, glowing Like distant headlights on the night highway to Hell

"How’re you doing, Sammy?" the rattnan asked in a tone of voice that was uncharacteristically solicitous "You getting along okay, Hh a surfeit of wine had so numbed Saet back in touch with his fear, he knew that he should be afraid Therefore he reht have done if a rattlesnake had slithered into his crate and blocked the only way out

The rat around for a while Got new business Overworked Got to deal with ent matters first When it’s over, I’ll be exhausted, sleep for a whole day, around the clock"

Being teeous He dared not speak "Did you knoout the herd, disposing of the lame and the diseasedit’s no piece of cake, let me tell you"

When the rat beads of rainwater were flung off his beard They spattered Sa woh awareness to be aarrulousness Yet, as aue was curiously reo in another place, though he could not recall where or when or froravelly voice or the words thee of deja vu, but the tonal quality of the ratman’s revelations, the eerie earnestness, the cadences of his speech

"Dealing with ver

BelieveIt’d be so much easier ill could waste each of you the first time we meet, make you spontaneously combust or make your head explode Wouldn’t that be nice?"

No Cold, exciting, interesting for sure, but not nice, Sah his fear remained in abeyance

"But to fulfill my destiny," the ratman said, "to become what I am required to become, I have to show you my wrath, make you quiver and be hu of your damnation"

Sa before Another street person Maybe eighteen uy naht he was chosen by God to make the world pay for its sins, finally went over the top with the concept, knifed three or four people ere lined up outside an arthouse theater that was showing arereleased director’s cut of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure with twenty inal version

"Do you knohat I a twoliter jug

"I aod is needed I have been chosen The old god was too otten out of hand It’sBecoht, the raindrops reliuided artisan had decorated hi