nose. He'd been underneath a car for the last three hours, but the air in the house he shared with his father was even harder to breathe than exhaust fumes. 'Jeez, Dad, open some windows,' he cried, fanning his face.
'Sorry, son,' Jim Valenti called from his seat on the couch. 'I guess we should clean up in here one of these days.' Valenti took a swig of his Coke and continued watching TV
'Yeah, maybe next time I have an hour off,' Kyle muttered as he forced open the living room window. Two men, their dirty clothes, and lots of leftover takeout could create quite a stench.
'How was your day?' Valenti asked.
'Uh… it sucked,' Kyle replied. 'How 'bout you? What did you do today?'
Valenti yawned. 'Oh, a little of this, little of that.'
Translation: Nothing at all, Kyle thought. He tried not be angry at his dad. After all, it wasn't Valenti's fault he'd lost his job. He'd been trying to help the aliens, the same way Kyle always tried to help them. He owed Max Evans his life, and Isabel was turning into one of his closest friends. Hell, even Michael had his moments. So if the interplanetary gang needed help, the Valentis were there.
Too bad it usually wreaked such havoc on their lives.
Kyle knew his father would snap out of this depression eventually and find a new job. But he'd been a police officer all his life, like his own father before him. Without his badge, Valenti didn't know what to do with himself.
Kyle opened the fridge and let the cool air wash over his hot skin. He took a cleansing breath and tried to remember his Buddhist teachings. He let the anger drain slowly from his body. He loved his father, even if he was no longer bringing in a single cent.
'When the man becomes a child, the child must become a man,' he murmured. They would be all right. His mechanic job covered the mortgage payments, and the new Meta-chem job would buy some food. As long as his father got it together before Kyle had to go back to school in the fall, they'd do fine.
'Hey, close the fridge!' Valenti called. 'You're wasting electricity.'
Kyle clenched his teeth. 'It's my electricity,' he whispered. Still, he closed the refrigerator and turned toward his father.
'Package for you on the table,' Valenti said. 'A messenger brought it by today.'
Kyle glanced at the bulky brown envelope. The label on it read META-CHEM. 'Must be my new uniform,' Kyle said. 'I start at Meta-chem tomorrow.'
He ripped open the paper and pulled out… a jumpsuit. Just like the one he was wearing now, except the Meta-chem jumpsuit was dark green. Over the right pocket, his name was stitched, and over the left pocket it said, HOUSEKEEPING. 'Just kill me now,' Kyle said.
'Looks like you won't need any new clothes for a while,' Valenti joked.
Kyle narrowed his eyes and shot Valenti the nastiest look he had.
'Toss me a beer, would you, son?' Valenti asked.
'What city, please?' said the voice on the other end of the phone.
' Roswell,' Sadie replied. She was crammed into a tiny phone booth on Nelson Avenue, and the cars and trucks were whizzing by pretty quickly.
'Georgia?' the operator asked.
Sadie covered her other ear with her hand to block out the noise of the traffic. 'What?' she yelled into the phone…
' Roswell, Georgia?' the operator repeated.
'No, New Mexico,' Sadie corrected her. 'G-e-e-r-i-n. Michael Geerin. I need his address.'
'No listing under that name,' the operator said, and promptly hung up.
Sadie put the phone back in its cradle and tried not to get upset. This was the third phone booth she'd tried, and
none of them had phone books. She had to find the address of Michael's place, because that's where Maria was going. How could she watch Maria if she couldn't even find her?
Across the street there was a Gap. Sadie brightened, struck by an idea. She could go in there and get a tank top just like the one Maria was wearing today. That would make her feel better… she could dress just like Maria!
She pulled her heavy backpack onto her shoulders, waited for a break in the traffic, and ran across. Right outside the store was another pay phone. This one didn't have a whole booth, but it did have a Roswell phone book in the little cabinet underneath the phone.
'Yes!' Sadie cried happily. She grabbed the book and plopped down on the sidewalk next to the pay phone. Quickly she turned to the Gs. There was no Michael Geerin. 'He must be unlisted,' Sadie murmured sadly.
'Who are you looking for?' someone asked.
Sadie started, glancing anxiously up at the guy standing above her. She wasn't supposed to be in Roswell. If anyone turned her in, she'd be in huge trouble. 'Urn, I'm looking for my, uh, cousin. Michael. But I can't find him,' she said, climbing to her feet. She hitched her backpack up so it was more secure on her shoulders, in case she had to run.
'What's his last name?' asked the guy. 'Maybe I know him.'
Sadie thought about it. This guy was a teenager like Maria. Maybe he went to school with her and her boyfriend. 'Geerin.'
The guy stared at her for a second. Uh-oh, Sadie
thought. He knows I'm lying. She took a step backward.
'Michael's your cousin?' the guy asked, frowning. 'I thought he was, like, a total orphan. I mean, with no family at all.'
'So you know him?' Sadie asked eagerly.
'Sure. He was in my auto-shop class last year. Well, when he bothered to show.' The guy took the phone book and flipped it open to the Gs. 'Here,' he said, pointing.
Sadie followed his finger. Michael Guerin. She'd been spelling it wrong.
It was a tiny little mistake, but suddenly she felt overwhelmed. What was she doing here, in a place she'd never been, looking for a teenage guy she'd never heard of before yesterday? It hadn't even occurred to her to check other spellings. She must be an idiot! Sadie's heart began to pound, and she felt panicky. She was in way over her head! She had to go home!
'Are you okay, kid?' the guy asked. 'You look really pale.'
Sadie tried to focus on him. She looked pale? 'I'm not his cousin,' she blurted out. 'I'm really looking for his girlfriend. She's supposed to be there.'
Just thinking of Maria calmed her down. That's why she was here, for Maria. She had nothing to worry about. She would find Maria.
The guy shrugged. 'Whatever,' he said. He wandered off down the sidewalk. Sadie waited until he was at the corner, then she sat back down on the concrete and pulled out her notebook.
Michael Guerin, she wrote. 1701 East 3rd St.
She reached into her backpack again and pulled out a well-worn map. She opened it up and spread it on the
sidewalk in front of her. It was a street map of Roswell, and she knew it almost by heart. She had no trouble finding Michael's address, and she wrote in big letters on the map: MICHAEL'S HOUSE. She already had Maria's house and the Crashdown Cafe written in.
Her confidence restored, Sadie folded up the map, stuck it in her backpack, and went into the Gap to buy a tank top just like Maria's.
'Jesse!' Isabel waved her arms, trying to get her boyfriend's attention across the crowded lawn. Summerhaven Park always filled up at lunchtime… all the businesspeople from the nearby firms liked to eat outside when the weather was nice.
'Jesse,' she called again, more quietly this time. The office where Jesse… and her father… worked was only a few blocks away. It was entirely possible that her dad was in the park somewhere too. She was taking a big risk looking for Jesse in such a public place, but she had to see him. She had to explain why she'd hung up on him the day before.
Jesse finally noticed her and headed across the grass to where she'd set up her blanket. She'd found a spot as
