A Small Gray Dot

“You damn straight we wanna help!” said Earl, his eyes angry. “My brother and his wife and kids lived over in the Cherry neighborhood and when we went to check on ‘em…” he trailed off.

Jim said, “We all lost somebody that day, Tennessee. Family, friends – only a fool wouldn’t want to get rid of them alien fuckers.”

“Everybody will want to get in on it,” said Earl. “The only thing is, how we gonna let ‘em know? Semptor’s got all th’ phones bugged. I’d call out some of th’ other guards but we can’t use th’ walkie-talkies without them listening.”

I nodded. “We’ve got it covered.” I explained about Terry.

We left them there and went back to the doctor’s house. I put Harlow in the basement with Talbert and Slim, who obviously had been drinking ever since we left them there. Slim was nodding off in one of the lounge chairs and Talbert was sitting at the bar leaning over and working on getting even drunker.

Harlow was docile as I removed his handcuffs. He was eying the bar and licking his lips. I took a look at his arm. The small bullet lodged under the skin had caused some bruising and swelling but it appeared all right otherwise. It probably wasn’t even hurting him much and it looked a lot better than his foot had a few years back. He’d need to get the bullet removed but the authorities would get that done once they picked him up. Again, I had no sympathy for him. He was lucky I hadn’t broken his damned jaw again. He immediately joined Talbert at the bar where I’m sure he looked forward to getting stinking drunk.

Talbert didn’t notice his stained and reeking pants. No doubt, they’d all be pissy by the time I got back to them.

I went back up. The doctor left for the lab to prepare his letter and make copies. Terry went with him. I eased onto a stool at the counter. One would think I’d be nearing exhaustion by then considering I’d only gotten about an hour’s sleep in the last twenty-four, and had been subjected to quite a bit of physical – and mental – stress. In spite of it all, I was not. I actually felt downright hyper. I knew it was adrenaline. I would likely pay for it later but that was later.

Duncan, Percy, Lem, and I didn’t do much talking while we waited on the doctor and Terry to come back. I don’t know about them but I was lost in my own thoughts; in my remembrances of horror and loss, things I’d pushed deep inside because there had been nothing I could do about it and hiding it away was a method of coping, of not going completely insane. Still, no matter how hard I’d tried, the memories were a constant subliminal hurt, and like a rising tide, they were now pouring back into my open consciousness. But, I was not as helpless as I was seven and a half years ago, and now I had a target.

I heard the lab phone ring and in a few minutes, the doctor sent Terry to tell me that Simon called and said they would be arriving between eight and eight-thirty. He didn’t say why the delay but I wasn’t worried. It would take a while for them to get everything together.

Terry set out as soon as the sun was up – after the doctor made him eat another sandwich first. We left the guys in the livingroom with Duncan watching the monitor, while the doctor and I went up to check on Morgan. She was still asleep.

“She’s going to have an awful headache and an upset stomach when she awakens,” said the doctor with concern. “I’d better prepare something for that.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. I’d been surprised he would know what to do about the ecstasy, after all, the man was a physicist, not a physician. But why would something have to be prepared for a headache?

“Won’t aspirin do?”

He saw the way I was looking at him and smiled. “I admit to having had a number of interests when I was younger, Tennessee. I was pre-med before I changed to physics, and I kept up with certain aspects of medicine – out of curiosity, you see. So, while aspirin will work for her headache, she is also going to be quite nauseous. Aspirin might exacerbate that so she will need something different. Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.”

I decided to take his word for it. The man was obviously a genius.

We went back downstairs, getting there in time to see the arrival of Madison along with everyone I’d sent to help her plus some. With all those folk out there, I knew Henderson was bound to know something was going on.

Lowell and Simon had managed to round up many more people than I thought they could on such short notice, but then they’d always been resourceful, and here they were. There were at least a hundred people with them, and not only that, people from the neighborhood were walking in, ones Terry had already gotten to and notified. I don’t know what the doctor put in the letter but every one of them was carrying some type of weapon.

I stepped out on the stoop with the doctor. By then it was ten after eight and the morning was cold in spite of the sun shining behind the ever-present haze hanging over Blue Heaven.