The Cloak Of Irrelevancy

 

No time to worry about it now!

 

********************************************

 

I knew very well that it was the same van that had left just an hour ago.  It had to be.  In the dark there we had no idea what to do.  There was no way to hide or to escape.

The doorknob rattled. Someone gave the door a good shove and it didn’t open. We heard voices.

“They’ve been here and nailed the door shut!” 

“Doug Simpson are you in there” loudly.  There was a lot of discussion that was not audible. The voices went around to the back of the house.

One of them had a portable light of some kind.  Using a knife blade or something he managed to jimmy the lock on the kitchen door. The door flew open and crashed against the wall.

We all three just stood in the living room without making a sound. I could not imagine what to do next.  I still didn’t know why this was happening. A lot of wild ideas flitted through my mind.

“That guy said he was here, and his brother, staying with these girls.” There was some coarse laughter. Only two men, talking between themselves. “Jennifer and Louise Milton. Wonder how they would like it if their Allowance disappeared?”

“He thinks he is going to lead the people to the promised land, and everything will be like it was again!” That brought some bitter laughter.  I had to wonder if our two officers were not entirely happy with life in the here and now.

Heavy steps up to the second story.  They went through all the rooms, searching for us I assume. They did not go into the attic.  Good. My extra supplies were in the attic.

They came down the stairs again, heavily.  Flashlight guy shone his beam all over the living room.  It was like we didn’t exist.  I wondered what would happen if one of them bumped into one of us. What would he think he had touched?  Would he feel anything? Or would it just not register?

“Look, they’re not here.  Probably back on the road.”

“Well, World Com wants him, and we have to find him!  Their tails in Maysville are on the line, which means our tails are on the line too!”

Both men walked out of the kitchen door without shutting it.

The engine started up in a moment and the van moved off toward Milltown. Doug shut the backdoor and shoved a chair up against it. It would make noise if the door opened.

Doug said we needed to have a pow wow, “but let’s do it in the morning.  I don’t think we’ll see them again tonight.”  So, they crashed in the living room again and I got into mom and dad’s bed right next door to the front room. I didn’t feel like being upstairs all by myself, without even Lou for company.

We did sleep.  When I awoke, the power was back on. So, I made oatmeal again.  We thought we had better get showers while we could before it went out again. This was normal.  It did this all the time.

Later, sitting around the table, we looked at each other.  I missed Lou, but I was glad she was with Mrs. Steele and Bubby.  She was not good at being quiet.

“First, who is World Com?  Why would they even know my name,”
said Doug.

“Second, somebody has talked to P-Sec.  Somebody who was at the last meeting.” I remembered the man who silently listened to Doug talking with the newcomers, and then left without saying anything. It would be normal to think it was him.

“Last, what now?” said Doug.

“Hey, remember what Roops said about that planetary power movement in the Middle East” I said.  “He seemed to imply that it was behind a lot of this, whatever you call it. In fact, I think he hinted that the bugs came from over there!”

“I suppose you should be flattered.  Or scared to death.  They think you might be able to oppose them!” I was thinking out loud then.

“You know what Doug” I said, “we need to not be in this house for a while.  We don’t know if our cloaking will always work, and we need to talk to Roops.  He is our only source of world news.”

Doug, looking thoughtful, pulled a Camel from his shirt pocket and lit it. Someday I would find out where those came from.  I never saw them for sale anywhere.  At that moment, I didn’t think I would bother him about it.

Elvin hadn’t said anything.  I wondered what he thought. So, I asked him, and he said “yeah, we have to stay with Roops and sleep on his floor while we figure out what comes next.”

I had some major questions. What was the connection between our local goons, and World Com?  Why did they care what we did over here in a small American city? 

The whole shebang: In the tenth year of the pandemonium.docx