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"So are you"

As she stopped at the curb in front of the terood, by now I’d at least have found out what the hell you do for a living" He had a charood as I aot out and retrieved his suitcase from the back seat, then returned to the open front door

"Look, I happened to be in the right place at the right time By sheer chance, I was able to save that boy It wouldn’t be fair to have my whole life turned upside down by the ood deed"

"No, it wouldn’t," she agreed

With a look of relief, he said, "Thank you"

"But I gotta say-yourbeat, fixed her with his exceptional blue eyes

"So are you, Miss Thorne"

Then he closed the door, turned away, and entered the terminal

Their last exchange played again in her

So are you, Miss Thorne She stared at the terh which he had disappeared, and he seeiven a ride to a hitchhiking spirit A thin haze filtered flecks of color froolden cast of the kind that so re noise startled her

She snapped her head around and saw an airport security guard tapping with his knuckles on the hood of her car When he had her attention, he pointed to a sign: LOADING ZONE

Wondering how long she had sat there, hts of Jiency brake and slipped the car in gear

She drove away fro

So are you, Miss Thorne All the way back into Portland, a sense of the uncanny lay upon her, a perception that soh her life She was unsettled by the discovery that a irlish, even foolish At the same time, she enjoyed that pleasantly eerie mood and did not want it to fade

So are you, Miss Thorne That evening, in her third-floor apart a dinner of angel-hair pasta with pesto sauce pine nuts, fresh garlic, and chopped tomatoes, Holly suddenly wondered how Ji Billy Jenkins was in danger even before the drunken driver in the pickup truck had appeared over the crest of the hill

She stopped chopping in the middle of a toht was settling over the greensward low Aht on the grass-flanked ays

When Ironheart had charged up the sidewalk in front of McAlbery School, colliding with her and nearly knocking her down, Holly started after hi to tell him off By the time she reached the intersection , he was already in the street, turning right then left, looking a little agitatedwild In fact he seee, the kids istered his panicked expression and the kids’ reaction to him a second or two before the truck had erupted over the hill like a daredevil’s car flying off the top of a stunt ramp

Only then had Ironheart focused on Billy Jenkins, scooping the boy out of the path of the truck

Perhaps he had heard the roar of the engine, realized so the intersection at reckless speed, and acted out of an instinctive perception of danger Holly tried to reine as early as when Ironheart had collided with her, but she could not recall Maybe she had heard it but had not been as alert toas he had Or perhaps she hadn’t heard it at all because she’d been trying to shake off the indefatigable Louise Tarvohl, who had insisted on walking with her to her car; she had felt that she’d go stark raving crazy if she were forced to listen to even another minute of the poet’s chatter, she knew she had been distracted by the desperate need to escape

Now, in her kitchen, she was conscious of only one sound: the vigorously boiling water in the big pot on the stove She should turn the gas down, put in the pasta, set the ti board, to out at the park but seeing the fateful intersection near the McAlbery School

Even if Ironheart had heard the approaching engine from halfway down the block, how could he so quickly deter, that its driver was out of control, and that the children were consequently in danger? The crossing guard, initially much closer to the sound than Ironheart, had been taken by surprise, as had the kids themselves

Okay, well, some people had sharper senses than others-which hy composers of symphonies could hear more coe concert goer, why solary sky sooner than others, and why a master viniculturist could appreciate subtler qualities of a rare vintage than could a stoned-blind as only concerned with the effect

Likewise, some people had far quicker reflexes than others, which was part of what made Wayne Gretzky worth millions a year to a professional ice hockey tea reflexes of an athlete No doubt he was also blessed with especially keen hearing Most people with a notable physical advantage also had other gifts: it was all a h Nothing unusual Nothing enes

Outside in the park, the shadows grew deeper Except at those places where laathering darkness The trees seeether

Holly put down the knife and went to the stove She lowered the gas fla water fell to a slow boil She put the pasta in to cook

Back at the cutting board, as she picked up the knife, she looked out theagain Stars began to appear in the sky as the purple light of dusk faded to black and as the criundy Below, ht

Suddenly she was gripped by the peculiar conviction that Ji to walk out of darkness into a pool of a to raise his head and look directly up at her , that somehow he knehere she lived and had come back for her

It was a ridiculous notion But a chill quivered along her spine, tightening each knotted vertebra

Later, near e of her bed switched off the nightstand lah which she also had a view of the park, and again a chill ran up her back She started to lie down, hesitated, and got up instead In panties and T-shirt, her usual sleeping attire, she h the dark room to the here she parted the sheers between the drapes