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No siren shrieked in the distance, and I didn’t expect to hear one In our special town, the police answer calls with ut ehts, because as often as not, their purpose is to conceal a cri the perpetrator to justice

“He’s only five, only five,” Lilly said uy on the news?”

“The news?”

“The serial killer The one who…burns kids”

“That’s not around here”

“All over the country Every few months Groups of little kids burned alive Why not here?”

“Because it isn’t,” I said “It’s so else”

She swung away froht beah she hoped to discover her tousle-haired, paja the fallen leaves and the curled strips of papery bark that littered the grass under a row of tall eucalyptus trees

Catching a troubling scent, Orson issued a lol and backed away fro bed He peered up at the sill, sniffed the air, put his nose to the ground again, and headed tentatively toward the rear of the house

“He’s got so,” I said

Lilly turned “Got what?”

“A trail”

When he reached the backyard, Orson broke into a trot

“Badger,” I said, “don’t tell them Orson and I were here”

A weight of fear pressed her voice thinner than a whisper: “Don’t tell who?”

“The police”

“Why?”

“I’ll be back I’ll explain I swear I’ll find Jimmy I swear I will”

I could keep the first two proful than wishful thinking and was intended only to provide a little hope hich she ether

In fact, as I hurried afterthe bicycle atwas lost forever The most I expected to find at the end of the trail was the boy’s dead body and, with luck, the man who had murdered him

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When I reached the rear of Lilly’s house, I couldn’t see Orson He was so coaly black that even the light of a full moon was not sufficient to reveal him

Froht came a soft woof, then another, and I followed his call

At the end of the backyard was a freestanding garage that could be entered by car only froe to a wooden gate, where Orson stood on his hind legs, pawing at the latch

For a fact, this dog is radically smarter than ordinary mutts Sometimes I suspect that he is also considerably smarter than I am

If I didn’t have the advantage of hands, no doubt I would be the one eating from a dish on the floor He would have control of the most comfortable easy chair and the remote control for the television

Deed the bolt latch with a flourish and pushed open the creaking gate

A series of garages, storage sheds, and backyard fences lay along this flank of the alley On the farther side, the cracked and runneled blacktop gave way to a narrow dirt shoulder, which in turn led to a line of e that sloped into a canyon

Lilly’s house is on the edge of town, and no one lives in the canyon behind her place The wild grass and scattered scrub oaks on the descending slopes provide homes for hawks, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, field mice, and snakes

Following his for the edge of the canyon, padding north and then south, softly whining and gru to himself

I stood at the brink, between two trees, peering down into a darkness that not even the fat ht looht vision

With a yelp, Orson abruptly abandoned his search along the canyon rim and returned to the center of the alleyway Hehis tail, but his head was raised and he was excitedly sniffing spoor

To hi has a sense of smell thousands of times more powerful than yours or mine

The ency of the eucalyptus trees was the only aroma that I could detect Drawn by another and more suspicious scent, as if he were but a bit of iron pulled inexorably toward a powerfulthe alley

Maybe Ji was still alive

It’s my nature to believe in miracles So why not believe in this one?

I cli He ift and certain, and to match his pace, I really had to make the drive chain hum

In block after block, only a feidely spaced security lalowed at the back of the residential properties that we passed By habit I steered away fro the darker side of the alleyway, even though I could have sailed through each patch of lanificant risk to my health

Xeroderues in knots—is an inherited genetic disorder that I share with an exclusive club of only one thousand other Ahly vulnerable to skin and eye cancers caused by exposure to any ultraviolet radiation Sunshine Incandescent or fluorescent bulbs The shining, idiot face of a television screen

If I dared to spend just half an hour in su wouldn’t kill me The true horror of XP, however, is that even minor exposure to ultraviolet radiation shortens my life, because the effect is cumulative Years of imperceptible injuries accrete until they nancies Six hundred minutes of exposure, spread one by one over an entire year, will have the sahtest July The luerous to me than the full ferocity of the sun, but it’s not entirely safe

Nothing is

You, with your properly functioning genes, are able routinely to repair the injury to your skin and eyes that you unknowingly suffer every day Your body, unlike ed seg theed DNA

I must exist in shadohile you live under exquisitely blue skies, and yet I don’t hate you I don’t resent you for the freedoh I do envy you