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"Then open it," said Peter

Chapter THIRTY-ONE

Sanjay Patal had left the Infirs that needed to be decided, things to be discussed Sam and Milo, for starters-that was a wrinkle Sanjay hadn’t planned on-and what to do about Caleb, and the girl

The girl So about her eyes

But as he moved away from the Infirmary, into the afternoon, an unexpected heaviness caht and then alike the one he’d had, so s to consider People often joked about the Household, that it wasn’t a real job, one of the trades, Watch or HD or Ag-it had been Theo Jaxon who had dubbed it "the plu committee," a joke that had cruelly stuck-but that was because they didn’t know the half of it, the responsibility It weighed on a person; it was a load you carried and never quite put down Sanjay was forty-five years old, which wasn’t young, but as he ravel path, he felt much older

At this time of day, Old Chou would be in the apiary-neverabout that But the thought of the long walk over there, under the high, hot sun ofthe way and be forced to talk to, filled hiray et off his feet Old Chou would keep And al at a slow trudge through the shadowed glade in the direction of his house, then stepping through the door (he listened for the sounds of Gloria elsewhere in the house, detecting nothing), cli stairs under the eaves with their cobwebby corners, and lying down in bed He was tired, so tired Who kne long it had been since he had let himself take a nap in the middle of the day

He was asleep al hiely sour taste in his mouth and a rush of blood in his ears He felt not so much awake as ejected bodily from sleep; his mind felt beaten clean Flyers, how he’d slept He layin it He realized he’d heard voices downstairs, Gloria’s and soht be Jimmy or Ian or maybe Galen, but as he lay and listened he realized one away How nice it was, sie, because in fact it seeht was falling, he could see this through the , the whiteness of the sus to do Jimmy would want to know about the power station, and who should ride down in the h Sanjay couldn’t, at that moment, recall precisely why this had to be decided), and there was still the question of the boy, Caleb, who to do with his shoes So er he lay there, the more these concerns seemed distant and indistinct, as if they applied to so in the doorway Her presence touched him less as a person than as a voice: a dise his naht: I don’t kno strange I don’t knohy I’ in this bed

"It’s late, Sanjay People are looking for you"

"I wasnapping"

"Napping?"

"Yes, Gloria Napping Taking a nap"

His wife appeared above hi bodiless in the gray sea of his vision "Why are you holding the blanket like that?"

"Like what? How a it?"

"I don’t know Look for yourself"

The effort, i he wished to atte his head forward froth of his body It appeared that in his sleep he had pulled the blanket from their bed and twisted it into the for across his waist, clutching it tightly with his hands

"Sanjay, what’s thelike that?"

Her face was still above hi it fully into view "I’m fine I was just tired"

"But you’re not tired anymore"

"No I don’t think so But perhaps I will sleep some more"

"Jimmy was here He wants to knohat to do about the station"

The station What about the station?

"What should I tell hio down to the station to secure it, fro there

"Galen," he said

"Galen? What about hiuely His eyes had closed again, the i, replaced by another: the face of a girl, so s about her eyes

"What about Galen, Sanjay?"

"It would be good for hi, for one part of him was still there in the roo part, was not "Tell him to send Galen"

Chapter THIRTY-TWO

The hours passed and night came on

They’d heard no word yet from Michael After the three of theroup had separated: Michael to the Lighthouse, Alicia and Peter to the trailer park, to watch over Caleb from one of the empty hulks, in case Sairl For the ti to do ait

The trailer where they hid s away froo undetected but still with a view of the door It was said the trailers had been left by the Builders, who had used thehts; as far as Peter knew, no one else had ever lived there Most of the paneling had been stripped away to get at the pipes and wires, and all the fixtures and appliances had been taken out, chopped up and dispersed There was a space in the back where a mattress had sat on a platfor door on a track, and a couple of sleeping cubbies tucked into the walls; a tiny table was situated at the other end with a pair of benches facing each other These were covered in cracked vinyl, the gaps in the fabric disgorging a brittle foam that cruht a deck of cards to pass the tio-to, she would shift restlessly on the bench, glancing out the ard the lockup Dale and Sunny were gone, replaced by Gar Phillips and Hollis Wilson, who evidently had decided not to stand down after all Someti a tray of food Otherwise they’d seen no one

Peter dealt a fresh hand Alicia turned away from the , took her cards fro

"Flyers Why’d you give me such junk?"

She sorted her cards while Peter did the same, and led with a red jack Peter ht of spades

"Go to"

He had noout theagain

"Stop it, will you?" he said "You’reIt took Peter four draws to match the suit; his hands were now hopelessly full of cards He played a deuce and watched while Alicia played out the two of hearts, rolling the suit, and ran with four cards in a row, flipping on a queen to bring hi in spades, he could feel it, but there was nothing he could do She had him completely boxed He played a six and watched while she dealt out a sequence of cards, flipping to diamonds on a nine, and emptied the rest of her hand

"You always do that, you know," she said, as she was scooping up the cards "Play out your weakest suit first"

Peter was still looking at his hand, as if there was so left to play "I didn’t know that"