(tourist): I was in Lansburg with a group from the senior center. I’d never been before, but Janine from water aerobics had so many nice things to say about the town. Lovely shops and restaurants, and a real, authentic German feel to it. I was absolutely charmed, even with that lava lamp in the middle of it all. Until we got stuck there, that is. Our tour bus got trapped in a parking lot before the streets got blocked off. “What in the world is going on?” I asked Janine. The strangest groups of people had gathered around that silly lava lamp. I’d never seen anything like it in my life.
* * *
Later, I saw footage from the beginning of the launch. Some of it gathered by news crews, some posted on blogs by Seekers. So, though I was inching down the street in the Jeep, with Ishmael beside me, moaning, “I could walk faster than this,” I still saw how the event started.
How the speakers blasting ’80s pop music went silent.
How spotlights from the ground were trained on the lava lamp and how the crowd turned their expectant faces upward.
How the Seekers and myTality™ distributors overflowed from the square, and how the Lansburg police department was patrolling, the officers wearing expressions of concern.
How there was a sudden ruckus in the silence, and the crowd turned to look behind them where a teenage girl, dressed in a strange costume and waving a pipe like a baton, joined the gathering, a massive line of people trailing behind her. People from the gym and from the churches, people from the schools and the shops. The town of Lansburg followed the makeshift Pied Piper, and they joined the crowd already formed at the lava lamp until Main Street became a crush of people.
And then, with everyone gathered, the spotlights flashed, and J. Quincy Oswald himself stepped to the rail of the lava lamp’s observation deck. He regarded the crowd, a king looking over his kingdom, and from the news footage I studied later, I could see he was pleased.
“My dear distributors,” Oswald began, in his smooth, authoritative voice. “How very much I’ve loved you. How very much good we’ve done together. And tonight, you’ll join me as we embark on a new chapter and invite new people to join our quest to change lives all over the world. Welcome, all!”
Oswald held his arms out, the way a preacher on a pulpit might. He wasn’t bogged down by a bullhorn. The sound system worked perfectly, carrying his voice to the very back of the crowd.
“As many of you know,” he went on, “for some unexplained set of reasons, I happen to be selected by extraterrestrial Visitors as their ambassador. You may not believe it yet, but I’ll tell you, after what you see here tonight, you’ll be forever changed.”
The crowd roared with approval and watched Oswald raptly.
And in the very back of that crowd, at the end of Main Street, near Ye Olde Fudge Shoppe, no one turned around when a beat-up Jeep slowly rolled to a stop behind them.
* * *
Subject #3, Cassidy (Cass) Robinson: Honestly, I didn’t expect that many people to get in my conga line. Add that to everyone already at the lava lamp, and practically all of Lansburg turned up. I’m not saying Owen couldn’t have done it…but while I was leading everyone, it clicked. I was doing exactly what I was meant to. I knew from the start that the role of Pied Piper was supposed to be mine.
* * *
“Holy shit,” Ishmael muttered when the crowd appeared in front of us.
“There’s nowhere to park.” I couldn’t keep the edge of panic from my voice.
“Just stop here.”
“In the middle of the street?”
“Well, I don’t want you getting close to the crowd and forgetting which pedal is the brake. Again.”
I gritted my teeth.
I pulled to the side of the road and positioned the Jeep near the curb as well as I could. Ishmael and I climbed out and were immediately met by Oswald’s voice, carrying through the speakers.
I’d read his speech already—I needed to know my cue to turn the lava lamp on—so I knew he was close to the unveiling. Too close.
“We need to go, now.”
But that was easier said than done. Ishmael walked with a pronounced limp and leaned on me for support. We tried to fight our way through the crowd, but people pushed back. Elbows dug into my sides. My feet got stomped on.
We weren’t