American Elsewhere - By Robert Jackson Bennett Page 0,248

quite strong, and is capable of resisting for a time, their numbers grow too great, and he, shrieking, bellowing, is brought to his knees.

They pile onto his shoulders. He tips forward, and falls onto the ground.

The giant approaches. It bends over the prostate First with a vaguely self-satisfied air, as if to say—Now do you see what that sort of behavior gets you?

First bellows and tries to stand. The pile of people—there must be several hundred on him—billows up, then falls back down. First moans, weeps, screams.

The giant bends its knees, and begins to reach down to him.

As its fingers near him, a shout rings out across Wink:

NO! NO! I WAS HAPPY! WHY CAN’T YOU LET ME BE HAPPY? WHY CAN’T YOU EVER LET ME BE HAPPY?

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Throughout all this, Parson speaks.

Mona tries to listen. It is almost impossible, as the geography of the town keeps changing so wildly and abruptly (at certain points Mona is not even sure she has ears, feeling as if her physical being has, again, been disassembled and reassembled), but the words start sinking in, as if she is listening without knowing she is listening.

When everything comes roaring back, Mona is sitting on the ground with her baby sleeping in her arms. Gracie has her head on Mona’s shoulder, and is weeping silently, shoulders trembling. The rifle is on the ground beside them. Mona has no idea how they got into these positions. She especially has no idea how her daughter managed to fall asleep during all that.

“I’m sorry, Gracie,” says Mona, though she is hardly aware of what’s going on.

Gracie only sobs, despondent, and buries her face farther in Mona’s shoulder. Soon she’s infringing on the baby’s space, much to the baby’s dislike.

“It’ll be okay,” Mona says. “I promise, we’ll figure out—”

Then the intense buzz fills the air, many times louder as it was before. Even Parson looks up, disturbed, and Mona’s daughter wakes and begins crying again.

They watch as all the people of Wink—if they could be called such—turn and begin encircling Mr. First.

“No!” cries Gracie. She stands. “They’re going to trap him! We—we can’t let them do this!”

“I am afraid we can,” says Parson.

“We can’t! We have to do something!”

“There is nothing to do,” says Parson. “He knew this would happen.”

“How do you know that?” Mona asks.

“Because he discussed it with me.”

Gracie turns on him. “He what?”

“When you left him to go fetch Miss Bright’s car,” says Parson, “I returned to him in his canyon. We knew what was happening, and tried to think of something to do. This was our solution.”

“You… you planned this? You’re letting him do this? Letting him die?”

“It was the only way,” says Parson.

“The only way what? The only way you could get what you wanted? The only way to win another one of your f—your fucking family tiffs?” It seems to take some effort for Gracie to swear.

“No,” says Parson. “The only way that you would live.”

Gracie blinks. Mona can see her reviewing the statement in her head. “What?”

“First has known something was coming for some time. Not this, precisely, but something. He has taken steps to prepare.” Parson’s small, boyish face grows queerly intense. “You understand this. You know what steps he has taken.”

Gracie shrinks a little, as if some inner part of herself is collapsing. Whatever steps First has taken, she is clearly not keen to discuss them.

“Yes,” says Parson. “These steps, these choices, limited his options later on. And he was most specific that you should be spared.”

Gracie is so shaken by this that she cannot answer. Mona says, “So you’re saying that we’re going to live?”

“No,” says Parson. “First is never quite sure of anything, temporally speaking. He does not predict, he estimates. But this provides the greatest chance for succe—”

A deafening scream echoes through Wink: NO! NO! I WAS HAPPY! WHY CAN’T YOU LET ME BE HAPPY? WHY CAN’T YOU EVER LET ME BE HAPPY?

Gracie wheels around. She sees the giant bending down to something trapped on the ground. She clasps either side of her head, falls to her knees, and screams.

None of them quite sees what the giant does to First. It looks like nothing at all: there is no light, no noise, no gore or blood of any kind. They can just see First’s translucent form struggling under the masses of people, and the giant seems to brush something with its fingertips, and then…

The mound of people collapse as if they had all been piled on top of a