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Was he shell-shocked? Having escaped the blast, was he trying to understand what had happened? Was he transfixed by the explosion itself?

Whatever he was thinking or feeling, I was having a cop reaction In the , he stood out I waded across the oncoht, flapped open et his attention Joe was on the phone, but he ended his call and joined me

We stood close to theloudly, I said, “Sir I’m with the SFPD Did you see what happened here?”

His expression was one of pure, wide-eyed pleasure He said, “Did I see it? I created this—this nificent event This is my work”

This was his work? He was clailanced at Joe like, Did you hear that?

“What’s your name, sir?”

“Connor Grant Citizen, genius, artist par excellence”

I said, “I don’t understand, Mr Grant Are you saying that you bombed Sci-Tron?”

“Exactly”

I was already on adrenaline overload and it took all my will not to shout, Are you batshit crazy? There were people in there

Grant wasat high speed

“Good job, don’t you think? Did you see the entire display? The mushroom cloud? Oh,myself an A-plus with extra points for the sundown sky You want to knohy, and I say, ‘Why ask why?’ Beauty doesn’t need a reason”

Yes, it was a confession, but was it for real?

I asked Grant again if he had actually bo like a child on Christ, he confirmed emphatically that he had

“You did this alone?”