Page 8 (1/2)

The feathered sentinels didn’t leave their perches to pursue me They didn’t even rustle the leaves around the truthful when I said that I didn’t believe they were going to pull a Hitchcock; but I had not ruled out the possibility altogether After all, in Wyvern--in all of Moonlight Bay, in fact--even a creature as unintiale can be er The end of the world as we know it may lie in the breast of a chimney swift or in the blood of the tiniest ht of the awakened ht that I cast a faint shadohich walked neither ahead of nor behind h to reed brother, who usually occupied that spot, was alows in Dead Town have only stoops This was one of the other half, a bungalow enhanced by a set of brick steps leading up to a front porch

A spider had built a web between the pilasters flanking the top of the steps I couldn’t see this construction in the dark, but it iant mutant species, because the silk-thread spokes and spirals were so fragile they dissolved aroundto my face, but I wiped them aith one hand as I crossed the porch, no ht than Godzilla is concerned about the deh events of recent weeks had given me a new and profound respect for many of the animals hich we share this world, I’d never be able to eard all forms of life, even spiders and flies, with reverence, but I can’t ignore the fact that spiders and flies--bugs and woreneral--will feed on me when I’m dead I don’t feel compelled to treat any creature as a fellow citizen of the planet, with rights equal to ards me as dinner I’m confident that Mother Nature understandspaint soht, was ajar The corroded hinges didn’t creak but rasped like the dry knuckle bones of a skeletona fist

I stepped inside

Because I had come in here for the express reason that I felt safer under a roof than in the open, I considered closing the door Maybe the birds would suddenly shake off their eerie stupor and co after me

On the other hand, an open door is an avenue of escape I left it open

Although I rapped by silky blackness as effective as a blindfold, I kneas in the living rooalows that do have porches also share exactly the sarand as a foyer or front hall Living roo room, kitchen, and two bedrooms

Even ell maintained, these humble hohere for only a couple of years between transfers Now they sue-and-groove wood covered with many coats of paint, except for linoleum in the compact kitchen Even under a self-proclaimed master of stealth like yours truly, they squeak

The loose boards didn’t concern me They ensured that no one could enter froalow and easily sneak up on h to allow h these panes were set under the porch roof, they were visible even in the indirect les in the otherwise pervasive blackness

I went to the nearest of the ts, neither of which was broken The glass was dirty, and with a Kleenex I polished a cleaner circle in the center of it

The front yards of these properties are not deep; between the Indian laurels, I had a view of the nearby street I didn’t expect to see a parade go past, but since I find majorettes in short skirts to be as ht it wise to be prepared

I switched on ain and keyed in the number for the unlisted back line that went directly to the broadcasting booth at KBAY, the biggest radio station in Santa Rosita County, where Sasha Goodall was currently the disc jockey on the er, but since the station had lost the military audience--and thus a portion of its ad revenue--with the closing of Fort Wyvern, she was not the only one of the surviving employees to have assu in the booth but activates a flashing blue light on the wall opposite Sasha’son-air patter at the ineer, she herself picked it up: "Hey, Snowman"

I don’t have sole possession of the back-line number, and like many privacy-minded people, I directed the phone co on caller ID; yet even when the call doesn’t coineer, Sasha always knows if it’sa tune?" I asked

"‘A Mess of Blues’"

"Elvis"

"Less than a o"

"I kno you do that," I said

"Do what?"

"Say, ‘Hey, Snowman,’ before I speak a word"

"So how do I do it?"

"Probably half the calls you ever answer directly on the back line are froht," I insisted

"I never lie"

That was true

"Stay withme on hold

While I waited for her to coram over the phone line She did a live public-service spot followed by a doughnut spot--recordedin the center--for a local car dealership

Her voice is husky yet silky, soft and s She could sellas it ca

I tried not to be entirely distracted by that voice as I listened with one ear for a creaking floorboard Outside, the street reive herself a full five minutes with me, she set up back-to-back tracks Sinatra’s "It Was a Very Good Year," followed by Patsy Cline’s "I Fall to Pieces"

When she returned to ram format before Sinatra, Elvis, and Patsy?"

"It’s a theht," she said

"The?"

"Busy What the Dead,’" she said

"Stylin’"

"Thanks What’s happening?"

"Who’s your engineer this shift?"

"Doogie"

Doogie Sassman is a panorahs more than three hundred pounds, twenty-five of which are accounted for by his unta a neck as wide as a pier caisson and a belly on which an entire faie is a babe net who has dated some of the most beautiful women ever to walk the beaches between San Francisco and San Diego Although he’s a good guy, with enough bearish charie’s solid success with stunningly gorgeous wahines--who are not normally won over by personality alone--is, Bobby says, one of the greatest ht up there iped out the dinosaurs and why tornadoes always zero in on trailer parks

I said, "Can you go canned for a couple of hours and let Doogie run the show from his control panel?"

"You want a quickie?"

"With you, I want a forever"

"Mr Roht

"We’ve got a friend needs hand-holding big tirew somber "What now?"

I couldn’t lay out the situation in plain words, because of the possibility that the call was being ht Bay we live in a police state so artfully i, I didn’t want to tip the’s house, because they ot there Lilly desperately needed support If Sasha dropped in by surprise, maybe by the back door, the cops would discover that she could stick like a five-barbed fishhook