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"He seeed "I don’t know if he was drunk or crazy or justtrouble, Astrid, so don’t blaht? I keep my eyes open and come tell Sam--or you--what’s up"

"Well, thanks," Astrid said

"I’ll tell Sa to provoke her, and yet it worked: she was provoked "Tell hi you want, it’s still a free…" She had started to say country "You’re free to say whatever you like to Sam"

But Taylor had already bounced away, and Astrid was talking to air

ELEVEN

47 HOURS, 53 MINUTES

THE PERDIDO BEACH Anomaly, that’s what they called it on the news The Anoh they knew that’s what the kids inside the Anomaly called it

The parents, the faathered in a special "viewing area" at the southern end of the Dome tended to call it the fishbowl Sometimes just the bowl That’s what it was to the ones who cas and "dreamed" of their children on the other side: a fishbowl They knew a little of as in the bowl, but the little fish, their children, did not knoas outside in the great big world beyond

Construction was going on in the area The state of California was rushing through a bypass for the highway The old road disappeared into the bowl and reappeared on the other side, twenty miles away It made a mess for the businesses on the coastal route

And other businesses were springing up on the south side of the bowl The tourists had to be fed, after all Carl’s Jr was building a restaurant So was Del Taco

A Courtyard by Marriott was being thrown together at startling speed Next to it a Holiday Inn Express had broken ground

In her ht every construction co but a huge opportunity toit all a bit too overnor had been there half a dozen times, accompanied by hundreds of reporters Satellite trucks were packed like sardines all up the beach

But each day Connie noticed the number of reporters and satellite trucks was just a bit sone frorind of turning a tragedy into a tourist trap

Connie Temple--Nurse Temple, as she was inevitably called by the media--had become one of two spokespersons for the families

That was the shorthand for all those who had children locked inside the bowl: the families

Connie Temple and Abana Baidoo

It was easier before they could knoas happening inside the bowl At first all anyone had knoas that a terrifying thing had happened An iy field had created a doured out very quickly that the nuclear power plant was at the epicenter

There were dozens of theories about what it was, that dorie to the site Tests had been conducted, h it Under it Had flown over it Had dug beneath it Had approached it by sub worked