Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 22:16:13 -0000 From: merideth Subject: Int: Highway 41 Danny wrote: >Wanda and Mark, who had begun to feel a bit more receptive to each other's >company, now jumped into each other's arms as the blast rocked the diner. > >Margaret, who had just headed for the ladies' room, found herself being >propelled against the door marked 'Men', which gave way, providing a quick >entrance into a crowd of falling and tumbling men. > >Shirley, who had been turning on all her feminine charms, edging closer and >closer to Cooper, flew into his lap. > >Other restaurant customers fell and tripped and bounced on floors and walls. > >Cooper brushed Shirley's hair from his eyes to gaze again through the >window, into the explosion-lit desert. He stared intently into the >distance, viewing the dunes, where the blast had originated. He could still >see it's source, a bright, yellowish circle of light, which was reflected >for miles in the Arizona sand. > >Not thinking of his predicament with Shirley and anxious to get a closer >look, Cooper suddenly stood, dropping the woman to the floor. He stepped >over her and made it to the window in seconds. His nose pressed against the >glass as he continued to survey the area, looking for anything that might >give him an idea as to what was going on. > >He stared. He scrutinized. He scaned left to right, right to left. He >looked up. Then down. He gazed. He thought. > Suddenly, an unknown voice spoke out of thin air, "Git yer ass down here ya idiot, before somebody else makes off with me." Somehow, Cooper knew the idiot spoken of was himself, and he headed out to the site to pick up whoever it was speaking in such a strange manner. All his passengers decided they would like to see this phenomenon too, especially Margaret who had become very popular with a number of strange men. They all hot footed it out to the car on his heals. Careening down the road, trying to keep a fix on the location of the blast, Cooper started remembering odd incidents in his past, making him think he should remember the identity of this disembodied voice. The time in New Orleans, when he was about to be killed by that hired assassin, for example. Had the man screamed at an unlucky (for him) time? He just couldn't quite make out the necessary details. Shirley had her hand on his leg, Wanda and Mark were exploring each other's tongues in the back seat, and he was finding it a little hard to concentrate. At the crash site, everybody got out of the car to examine what appeared to be a small golden sphere, about four feet in diameter, with facetting all over it, suggesting B. Fuller's geodesic dome design. A trap door opened near the bottom of it, and a small cat emerged. Black with golden orange flecks of color, and bright yellow eyes, she walked up to Cooper, and that strange disembodied voice said, "What's the matter sweetheart? Don't ya remember me, after all this time?" while the cat stared intently at Cooper. The golden sphere rose from the ground, and without a sound disappeared, leaving nothing but a scorched indentation where it had rested. Shirley, who was leaning on Cooper's arm, breathed, "Oh, what a lovely animal," as she snuggled in closer. "Watch who yer callin' a animal, toots, and that hu-man yer puttin' yer hooks into happens to be mine." With that, the cat leapt into Coopers arms. Squirming around to make herself comfortable, she said, "Din't ya get my message, Coop? Ya should have known I was in the area. I always am when things start to get hairy." Cooper could feel the vibrations of purring in his arms while he walked back to his car. A slow smile spread across his face. "Now that you mention it, I think I did hear something awhile back, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Folks, meet Judy, an old friend. Let's get out of here, before the crowd arrives to investigate that explosion." Merideth "It's their laws, man. They make 'em so difficult, nobody can understand 'em." The Original Hippie merideth@tyrell.net ;)-{8-->= the flip side @-{--E= http://www.tyrell.net/~merideth/ - visit my art gallery {(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}{(@)}