|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- IRREGULAR SHIRT--CUP 18--"THE PEOPLE WHO CLEAN THE TRAINS AT NIGHT" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Irregular Shirt  ||  -------> (Cup SRis018, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Night. Later. "Well, I still can't believe it." Janice Pawn said, sitting in the passenger seat of Yonder Caoden's car as they pulled into the parking space. "I don't know." Yonder said, yanking up the emergency brake and shutting the engine off. "I always felt there was... I don't know, something really WEIRD about Lucid. But this... it's just... it's just so..." "I know. It's like, if they're gonna do it, I mean, at least lock the door! I mean, come on--you don't say 'come in' even if you're in bed with a GUY. But another girl? Jeez, what was she thinking?" "I don't know." Yonder said, taking a handkerchief out of her purse, folding it, and putting it on her head. "She must have known it would be the talk of the school. And the other girl--I heard she may have been underage." "Yeah, who was it anyway?" "No one knows. A few people said she was a local high school student, or even--I mean it's foundless--a grade school student." "WHAT?" "Yeah--remember, Kathy and Washington were the only ones to see her. They said she looked awful young." "But--" Janice said, smiling, "--how much of them did they see? I mean, were they totally covered up, or what?" "Well, from what Kathy told me, they were both in the buff and in the open." "Man, what was she thinking!" "I don't know. Maybe she's trying to prove a point." "But--like I said, you don't let people in when you're doing it! They even kept doing it a little after they came in, right?" "They were in each other's arms." "Wow." "Yeah," Yonder said, looking around the parking lot, "Kathy freaked out and ran into my room, and Barbaza was there, studying while I was at the food court. She was yelling and screaming for Barbaza to go see them--to show she wasn't hallucinating about it. But when they got back, the other girl was gone--Washington stepped outside in embarrassment, and when Kathy and Barbaza went in, Lucid was still there, naked as the day she was born, but the girl was gone." "Where'd she go?" "I dunno--I think Lucid told 'em the girl was hiding in the closet, but I don't know--there really isn't ROOM in Lucid's closet for anyone to hide, y'know?" "Yeah." "Well, I don't see Nallie's car here. Maybe someone dropped her off? I'm not supposed to go into the trains without her." "No?" "Yeah, for security reasons or something. I don't know--I guess I have to go into the trains to see if she's there, right? I mean, I have to break the rule to follow the rule." "No," Janice said, "rules ain't rules that step on each other's toes--or so Nardale Creeks would say." "He that frontier fighter guy?" "Yeah--he fought with a Lucerne hammer. We've been studying him in Baskonontanan History." "Huh. Yeah, he's cool. I saw a show about him." "Yeah." "So what should I do?" Yonder asked. "I don't know--maybe we should wait a little longer." "I know, but I'm not supposed to be late--another rule--and if we wait much longer..." Janice laughed and Yonder joined her. "The thing is," Yonder said, "I really need the money." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----