'What do these other guys think about you?'
'They don't know about me.'
'Does anyone besides your friend know about you?'
'Nary a soul.'
'All right. Back to your friend. Does this anger of his show itself often?'
'Not very. Hardly ever at school.'
'Does he ever get mad at his mother and sisters?'
'Never. He doesn't see his sisters much. They're already married and gone. One of them moved away.'
'Tell me about his mother.'
'She's nice. She works at the school. At the cafeteria. She doesn't make much money, but she does a lot of gardening and canning. They have enough to eat, but not much else. And she's still trying to pay back all of his dad's doctor bills.'
'Where do they live? I mean is it a house? What kind of neighborhood is it in?'
'It's a small three-bedroom house. It looks like all the others on the street.'
'What sorts of things does your friend do for entertainment? Movies? Books? Television?'
'There's only one movie theater in town. They have an old tv set that doesn't work half the time. My friend reads a lot, and he also likes to walk around in the woods.'
'Why?'
'He wants to be a biologist.'
'What about his grades?'
'What about them?'
'Does he get good grades?'
'A's and b's. He should do better. He sleeps too much.'
'What are his best subjects?'
'He's pretty good in latin and science. Not so hot in english and math.'
'Is he a good athlete?'
'He's on the wrestling team.'
'Is he planning to go to college?'
'He was until a few days ago.'
'What happened? Is there a problem?'
'Yes.'
'Is that why he called you?'
'Yes.'
'Does he call you often now?'
'Once in a while.'
'And what is the problem? Money? There are scholarships available, or-'
'It's more complicated than that.'
'How so?'
'He has a girlfriend.'
'And she doesn't want him to go?'
'It's more complicated than that.'
'Can you tell me about it?'
After a brief pause, possibly for consultation with his 'friend': 'She's pregnant.'
'Oh, I see.'
'Happens all the time.'
'And he feels he has to marry her?'
'Unfortunately.' He shrugged.
' 'Unfortunately' because he won't be able to go to college?'
'That and the religion problem.'
'What's the religion problem?'
'She's a catholic.'
'You don't like Catholics?'
'It's not that I dislike catholics, or any other group defined by its superstitious beliefs. It's that I know what's going to happen.'
'What's going to happen?'
'He's going to settle down in this company town that killed his father and he's going to have a bunch of kids that nobody will associate with because their mother is a catholic.'
'Where is this town?'
'I told you-he doesn't want me to tell you that.'
'I thought he might have changed his mind.'
'When he makes up his mind about something, nobody can change it.'
'He sounds pretty strong-willed.'
'About some things.'
'What, for example?'
'About her.'
'Who-his girlfriend?'
'Yep.
'I may be dense, but I still don't see why her being a Catholic is such a serious problem.'
'That's because you don't live here. Her family lives on the wrong side of the tracks. Literally.'
'Maybe they will be able to overcome the problem.'
'How?'
'She could change her faith. They could move away.'
'Not a chance. She's too attached to her family.'
'Do you hate her?'
'Me? I don't hate anyone. I hate the chains people shackle themselves with.'
'Like religion.'
'Religion, family responsibilities, having to make a living, all that stuff. It's so stifling, don't you think?'
'Sometimes. But they're things we have to learn to live with, aren't they?'
'Not me!'
'Why not?'
'We don't have all that crap on K-PAX.'
'Will you be going back there soon?'
'Any time now.'
'How long do you usually stay on Earth?'
'Depends. A few days, usually. Just long enough to help him over the rough spots.'
'All right. Now listen carefully. I'm going to ask you to come forward in time several days. Let's say two weeks. Where are you now?'
'On K-PAX.'
'Good. What do you see?'
'A forest with lots of soft places to lie down on, and fruit trees, and all kinds of other beings wandering around... .
'Much like the kind of forest your friend enjoys hiking in?'
'Something like that, but nobody is bulldozing it down to build a shopping center.'
'Tell me about some of the plants and animals in the woods there on K-PAX.' I was curious to find out whether the young prot had a fully developed concept of his home planet, or whether that came later. While he was describing the flora and fauna I retrieved his file and pulled out the information that prot had divulged to me in sessions five through eight. I quizzed him on the names of grains, fruits and vegetables, the various animal 'beings,' even about light travel and the K-PAXian calendar. L won't repeat the questions and answers here, but they confirmed my suspicion that the creation of his alien world was developed over many years. For example, he
