Footfall

“Yeah. Rosalee, Jenny is well, it’s pretty complicated. I’ve known her family a long time. Six more months of rain?”

“If we’re lucky,” Carlotta said. “Actually, nobody really knows It might be more than that.”

“What do you do Inside, Mrs. Dawson?” Rosalee asked.

“Well, I work for the government.”

“Everybody wonders what it’s like, though,” Roger insisted. “Families. I’ve heard the senior staff have their families with them—”

“Some do,” Carlotta said. “Roger, I hear you were part of a raid on the Invaders—”

Roger laughed. “Okay, I give up. Look, I only witnessed that raid. Mostly it was George’s idea. Who’d you hear it from?”

“Carol.”

Oh, shit. Carol had gone Inside, on the insistence of Nat Reynolds. The goddamn sci-fi people can get their groupies Inside, and I can’t even get past the outside gate.

“Actually, it was George’s idea. I was along to watch.” How much did that woman tell? Reynolds was no more a hero than I was. “Hell, I’m not blowing a month’s expense money to talk about me! Harry, tell your story. .

“Wow,” Lucille said. “That’s really something. I’ve never seen a snout except Harpanet. The one you captured, Harry.”

“Well, it was sufficiently hairy,” Harry said. “If the snout didn’t kill us, the farmers would. We took the motorcycle downhill till we could smell the swamp, and then we walked.

Lucille found Hairy Red awesome. Roger found that amusing.

But— Carlotta laughed, something between a snort and a giggle.

“See if it’ll carry you,” the man says. “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. A snout armed with an assault rifle! I don’t think it ever crossed Harry’s mind that I might chicken out. So I couldn’t. Harry’s just the right kind of crazy. You know what he said when we got to those farmers?”

But Carlotta’s backing him up! He must be a real hero. Aw, come on — Roger moved his now clean dinner plate so he could take notes.

(All of the plates had been cleaned. People didn’t waste-food these days.)

“I never saw action,” Lucille said. “But I’ve seen Harpanet — nuts. Classified.”

“Are there any stories you can tell?”

“I haven’t been told so. Harry has all the good stories.”

Harry has the stories, but Carlotta knows what’s happening. Bellingham Evelyn got pregnant and married that guy, what was his name? Max. Max Rohrs. Has a sick mother in Bellingham Had to live there, and Evelyn went with him. She’ll still be there. What in hell is Linda Gillespie doing in Bellingham?

He watched Corporal Lucille from the corner of his eye when he said, “We didn’t see any sign of snouts after the bombs went off. Now they tell me those were Soviet bombs.” She didn’t react “I wonder how the sub commanders felt. They finally got to bomb us.”

“I never saw a snout,” Tim Lewis said. “I talked to plenty o guys who did. Dave Pfeiffer and I made a song about what happened to him. He joined the Army after we got here. I don’t know where he is now, but I’d guess he’s chasing down refugee snouts.’

“Let’s sing that song,” said Hairy Red.

“Dessert’s coming,” Tim Lewis protested. “-Oh, hell. Sure.’ They moved to the bandstand and opened guitar cases. Customers started to look around.

Bellingham. Linda’s not there to meet a lover. I’m the one lover she’s got. If she’s there, Ed Gillespie is there. Air Force general. On the President’s personal staff. In Bellingham. Why?

“Penny for your thoughts,” Rosalee said.

“Shh. They’re going to sing.”

THE BATTLE OF GARFIELDby David Pfeiffer and Tim LewisIt was just five days after the battle in orbit.Like snowflakes they came drifting down from the sky:Monster-things dangling from bright frail gliders.We watched and we talked, and we all wondered why.To northward and east of us they made their landing.Set up a strong point out near Great Bend,

But some had been scattered by wind while they drifted,And four landed near us to settle with men.Bob and Les Forward and Bill “Top Kick” Tuning,Old Amvets, came by on the sixth morning bright.They had fifteen men with them, combat vets mostly.They called “Saddle up” for a hell of a fight.Tom Kinney had seen them and told us about them,Right down toward Kinsley and headed our way.“Elephant dwarves with their two trunks a-swingingAnd rifles to shoot with” is what he did say.