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"Well, it seeet you home safely, then" Devi pulled into ine "Door-to-door service Now get your dog and get inside, so I can tell Nathan that I saw you in before I drove away"

"Yes, ain"

She waved it off "Don’t worry about it I’ll see you soon"

"Absolutely" I slid out of the car before opening the back door and taking hold of Beverly’s leash She july down to the driveway I closed both doors, waved to Devi one last time, and turned to walk up the path to the house

She was still there when I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, Beverly sticking close toroomand watched as Devi drove away

In a one, and the street was still

"Mom? Dad? Joyce?" No one answered I was alone in the house I had been expecting that; it wasn’t the middle of the day, exactly, more late afternoon at this point, but they all had jobs of their own to do I was the only one who’d had the day off It was actually a bit of a relief--I hadn’t been looking forward to explaining what I was doing ho had come from before I had the chance to calm down a little bit

I couldn’t say exactly what had been so disturbing about seeing Beverly’s owner get sick, any more than I could say exactly what it was about the sleepwalkers that disturbedabout the, in a way that I couldn’t articulate I just knew that it ain

Beverly sat atto do next I bent and unclipped her leash from her collar

"Welcome home, Bevvie," I said, and rubbed her silky ears She let her tongue loll, looking pleased in that way that all dogs have "Go ahead and explore You’re going to live here for now"

Beverly stood, stretching luxuriously, and went trotting off into the living roo both it and the leash on the rack next to the door, and followed her

For the next ten minutes, Beverly explored the house and I followed her, watching as she sniffed at corners and shoved her head into places where I wouldn’t have expected it to fit She was perfectly well behaved, not atte or squat in any of the corners Once she was done with the inside, I led her to the back door and opened it far enough for her to squeeze out and go to explore the backyard

I didn’t knohether we’d ever had a dog, but we had a high fence that looked like it would be sufficient to keep her fro off into traffic I watched for a few round and her tail carried high, like a rudder Then I whistled for her to colass door into the kitchen, her tail wagging et dog food for her I needed to do a lot of things I was suddenly too tired to stay on ered down the hall towardinto bed I don’t re asleep All I remember is that one minute, the world was there, and the next one And, as always, I drea, so is different than it was before There are words noords here in the dark, words for things like "red" and "drums" and "time" There is a "before" here now There was never a before, and where there is a before, there can be an after

What is an "after"? I do not know, and because I do not know, because there is so to be known and an "I" to fail to know it, I am afraid There isn’t supposed to be an after There isn’t supposed to be an I There’s only supposed to be the hot ware

The dru louder I wish I knehat that meant I wish I understood why I was so very, very afraid…

The oensis variant--which he was calling "D banks" in those days, because hubris is not only a sin, it’s a fun game to play at parties--was rejection Our immune syste alongside parasites, and we took those parasites away very abruptly, causing a spike in allergies and autoiood, but that doesn’t mean our immune systems liked the parasites They kne to handle them That doesn’t s as a businessman and a scientist What he lost, ironically, was the hule We’re constantly told not to anthropo about the human body, even the autonomic functions of it, you have to anthropomorphize That’s where you’ll find your answers Our bodies don’t like having parasites inside them, no matter how beneficial those parasites are intended to be They’ll fight back until the parasites are destroyed, or until they are D banks triggered every rejection response that D yonagoensis did What you got from Steve’s "miracle cure" was dead worht in to consult My specialty was the huenome Hoorked, how it could be used to benefit hus that didn’t start out as members of the human family tree If you wanted someone to build you a worm, you went to Steve You wanted a worm that had medical applications, you went to Richie And if you wanted that worm to be a cousin of yours, you came to me