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 he was awakened
from her nap by a loud thump on her bedroom window and a fleeting glimpse
of a huge red balloon shooting past. Upwards. Her favorite deck chair,
attached by a rope, whipped by in the next instant. Henry's unhappy hissing
noises could be heard below. Before she could ask if he needed help, Henry
yelled, “D-d-d-don't even th-think about c-c-coming downstairs!”
So she lay back and put her hands
behind her head, watching the window. After half an hour of grunting,
hissing and whispering, another balloon went by her window. This one drifted
rather peacefully upwards, slowly enough that she could read, “Sale!
40% off!” written on the side in big white letters. Attached to the
balloon by a rope was Bob. He was drifting sideways as well as up. Edna
was sure he was going to get stuck in the treetops at the wood's edge,
but he just cleared them.
Getting up, she collected her camera
gear and relayed everything out the front door to the truck for her afternoon
work. Each time she came back outside, she looked up and the balloon seemed
to have barely moved. Henry had overcorrected after the first balloon
had escaped. Two hours later when she returned from photographing, it
had shrunk to a red spot above the clouds.
“Edna, can you see the balloon?”
“Yes, but it's pretty high now.”
“Watch it for me. I can't see it at
all. Oscar sent directions, but I've never done one of these before. It's
taking way too long.” At that moment Edna heard a pop like a distant
gunshot. The balloon had burst into flames and was plummeting to the ground.
“Uh oh, it blew up.”
“Oh, that's great! Finally. All those
fuses and detonators and explosives are so complicated. I was a little
bit anxious.” He sounded very relieved.
“Somebody will find the body.”
“Oh no, aerial cremation is one hundred
percent effective.”
“The neighbors may have seen that balloon.
It was high enough to be seen for miles.”
“We're not supposed to do it in the
day, but I thought we were so far away form anybody that it wouldn't matter.
I forget you people can see for a long way. Well, vaccinations are next.”
“No way! I really, really don't like
needles.”
Henry listed a long list of very nasty
diseases that he said the Blues (and he, for that matter) were capable
of infecting her with if they took a notion. “I'm sure they will
try diseases. They know I have the antidote to the poisons they use. These
vaccinations are very effective.”
“I expect these shots have never been tested
on humans, right? How do you know they're safe?”
“Certainly they're safe. Many of us
have had them.”
“All right, all right. As if I had
any choice. We'll do it after my hike so if they make me sick, I can just
go right to bed.”
 enry was ready
when she and the dogs came off the mountain. Crossing the yard, she saw
that he had everything set up on the front steps. Dr. Henry had set up
his syringes on a tray with his rubber gloves. He had alcohol and cotton
balls. From out of sight he shouted instructions. “Sit on the steps
and roll your sleeves all the way up over your shoulders. Both sleeves.“
“Henry, there are eleven syringes here.”
“Just roll up your sleeves and close
your eyes.”
She kept her eyes open, but she didn't
look at Henry. When he was giving the shots she said, “Henry, let's
test how nearsighted you are. How many fingers am I holding up?”
“One.”
“Which finger is it?”
“The middle finger. Stop moving!”
“Will all these shots make me immortal?”
“You will be immune to most of the
diseases that we have the ability to administer. Oscar wouldn't send me
any vaccinations for you. I had to get a friend to sneak them in the box.
The poison commonly used can't be prevented in advance, but if you get
the antidote within fifteen minutes, you're fine.”
“On whom do you guys use all these
nasty things? Us?”
“Actually, we use them on each other.
It's the way we fight and we fight a lot.”
“Jeez, that hurts. Aren't you finished
yet?”
“That's it. You should look at those
photos this evening and let me know what you see.”
“Have you seen my cat? The one that
was at the vet?”
“You know perfectly well I can't see
your cat. There is a small animal lying on the deck. There are six larger
animals in the kennel building. There are many, many tiny animals in the
field. There animals in the trees, in the sky, in the water. If we paid
any attention to animals, we wouldn't be able to see anything else. We
are conscious of humans and of ourselves.”
“Okay, okay. A simple yes or no would
have sufficed.” After looking in and under everything around her
house, Edna finally caught a glimpse of the cat as it fled from under
the overturned wheelbarrow. It hid in the woods. The poor thing blamed
her for its pain.
cont. on page twenty-four
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