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She shook her head

"He said to me, ’People aren’t is are important Money is important, liquor is i that ood is important, but I’m not important He tells me that nuclear bombs are is some day, not because they’ll blow up people--after all, people are nothing, just polluting animals that spoil the world That’s what he says That’s what he tells me he believes He says he can prove it’s all true He says that next ti around a Porsche, ad the car, look real hard at their faces and you’ll see that they care more about that car than about each other They’re not ad the work about the people who anic, as if it grew or somehow made itself They adineering skills and craftsy froining its power under their hands, so the car becomes more real and and farit"

"That’s bullshit," Tessa said with conviction

"But that’s what he tells me, and I know it’s crap, and I try to reason with hiot all the answers--or thinks he has And sometimes I wonder … if I wasn’t so soured on life ue with them more persuasively? If I wasn’t who I am, would I be more able to save

They were both silent for a moment

Then he said, "That’s why I say life is hard and mean"

"I’m sorry, Sam"

"Not your fault"

"Not yours either"

He sealed the Cheddar in a piece of Saran Wrap and returned it to the refrigerator while she returned to the pancake

"But you had Karen," she said "There’s been love and beauty in your life"

"Sure"

"Well, then--"

"But it doesn’t last"

"Nothing lasts forever"

"Exactly my point," he said

"But that doesn’twhile we have it If you’re always looking ahead, wondering when thisto end, you can never know any real pleasure in life"

"Exactlyspoon in the bigI mean, life is filled with moments of wonder, pleasure, joy … and if we don’t seize the hts of the future and relish the moh the bad ti her beauty and vitality But then he began to think about how she would age, grow infirer bear to look at her Instead he turned his gaze to the rain-washedabove the sink "Well, I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, but you’ll have to ad how I could be such a Glooo way beyond that You’re a regular Dr Dooed

They returned to their culinary labors

11

After escaping through the gate at the rear of the rectory yard, Chrissie stayed on the move for more than an hour while she tried to decide what to do next She had planned to go to school and tell her story to Mrs Tokawa if Father Castelli proved unhelpful But now she was no longer willing to trust even Mrs Tokawa After her experience with the priests, she realized the aliens would probably have taken possession of all the authority figures in Moonlight Cove as a first step toward conquest She already knew the priests were possessed She was certain that the police had been taken over as well, so it was logical to assu the early victihborhood, she alternately cursed the rain and was grateful for it Her shoes and jeans and flannel shirt were sodden again, and she was chilled through and through But the darkish-gray daylight and the rain kept people indoors and provided her with so drifted in froht, just a beardlike h to further obscure the passage of one sht’s thunder and lightning were gone too She was no longer in danger of being flash-roasted by a sudden bolt, which was at least some comfort

YOUNG GIRL FRIED TO A CRISP BY LIGHTNING THEN EATEN BY ALIENS; SPACE CREATURES ENJOY HUMAN POTATO CHIPS; "IF WE CAN MAKE THEM WITH RUFFLES," SAYS ALIEN NEST QUEEN, "THEY’LL BE PERFECT WITH ONION DIP"

She h alleyways and backyards, crossing streets only when necessary and always quickly, for out there she saw toocars, obvious patrols Twice she almost ran into them in alleys, too, and had to dive for cover before they spotted her About a quarter of an hour after she fled through the rectory gate, she noticed more patrols in the area, a sudden influx of cars and men on foot Foot patrols scared her the most Pairs of men in rain slickers were better able to conduct a search and were more difficult to escape fro into the than on the e cans in an alley She took refuge under a brewer’s spruce, the lower branches of which nearly touched the ground, like a skirt, providing a dark and mostly dry retreat Twice she crawled under cars and lay for a while

She never stayed in one place for more than five or ten minutes She was afraid that some alien-possessed busybody would see her as she crawled into her hiding place and would call the police to report her, and that she would be trapped

By the time she reached the vacant lot on Juniper Lane, beside Callan’s Funeral Horass and bristly chaparral--she was beginning to wonder if she would ever think of someone to turn to for help For the first tie fir spread its branches across part of the lot, and her clump of brush ithin its domain, so she was sheltered frorass, curled on her side, she could not be seen from the street or from the s of nearby houses

Nevertheless, every h to look quickly around, to be sure that no one was creeping up on her During that reconnoitering, looking cast past the alleyway at the back of the lot, toward Conquistador, she saw a part of the big redwood-and-glass house on the east side of that street The Talbot place At once she remembered the man in the wheelchair

He had corade students last year, during Awareness Days, a week long prograh he had been interesting He had talked to the abilities of disabled people

At first Chrissie had felt so sorry for him, had just pitied hi there ill his wheelchair, his body half wasted away, able to use only one hand, his head slightly twisted and tilted permanently to one side But then as she listened to him she realized that he had a wonderful sense of humor and did not feel sorry for himself, so it seemed more and more absurd to pity him They had an opportunity to ask hi to discuss the intimate details of his life, the sorrows and joys of it, that she had finally co Moose had been terrific

Now, looking at the redwood-and-glass house through the tips of the rain-shiny stalks of high grass, thinking about Harry Talbot and Moose, Chrissie wondered if that was a place she could go for help

She dropped back down in the brush and thought about it for a couple of minutes

Surely a wheelchair-bound cripple was one of the last people the aliens would bother to possess--if they wanted him at all

She i A wheelchair-bound cripple was not a second-class hu He had just as much to offer the aliens as anyone else

On the other hand … would a bunch of aliens have an enlightened view of disabled people? Wasn’t that a bit much to expect? After all, they were aliens Their values weren’t supposed to be the sa seeds--or spoors or slis or whatever--in people, and if they ate people, surely they couldn’t be expected to treat disabled people with the proper respect any more than they would help old ladies to cross the street

Harry Talbot

The ht about him, the more certain Chrissie became that he had thus far been spared the horrible attention of the aliens

12

After she called hiriddle with Pam, so the pancakes wouldn’t stick

She turned on the oven and put a plate in there, to which she could transfer the cakes to keep them warm as she made them

Then, in a tone of voice that immediately clued hi him to reconsider his bleak assessment of life, she said, "Tell hed

She said, "If you’re this dahed bitterly "On the drive up here froa I cah, because I’ood Mexican food"

"I’ll go along with that"

"Two--Guinness Stout"

"I like Heineken Dark myself"

"It’s okay, but it’s not a reason to live Guinness is a reason to live"