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In the center of the first dooras a small familiar box It looked as if it had been left by accident I kneas there as a gift

Roy!

I lunged forward to stand, looking down, and touch the box Whisper—tap

Whatever lay inside rustled

Are you in there, body from the ladder on the wall in the rain?

Whisper-tap-murmur

Daht, won’t I ever be rid of you!?

I grabbed the box and ran

I reached the outer door and threw up

Eyes shut, I wiped my mouth, then opened the door slowly Far down the alley the work iron incinerator

Doc Phillips, behind theave silent directions

I shivered If I had arrived five ht have come at the very moment he had found Roy’s body and the destroyed cities of the world My body would have gone into the trunk with Roy’s!

My taxi aiting behind Stage 9

Nearby was a phone booth I stumbled in, dropped a coin, called the police A voice ca, “Yes? Hello, yes, hello, yes!”

I swayed drunkenly in the booth, looking at the receiver as if it were a dead snake