The Prophecy Machine

But what if Sabatino didn't lie? What if, for some bizarre, convoluted reason, he was telling the truth this time? What then of he and Letitia Louise, who was, even now, trembling visibly beside him, and not from the chill evening air?

“Why,” he asked, “Even if this-this insane custom of yours that turns away guests in your misbegotten land is real? Why does the town close up at four-forty-whatever you said? That makes no sense at all.”

“4:46. And it makes sense to us.”

“Yes, damn it all, but why?”

“Because the night belongs to them, that's why. Because they want it that way.”

“Who, those loonies in pointy hats? Snips and Clips, when do these fellows sleep?”

“Not them.”

“Who, then?”

“The Hooters.”

“Hooters …?”

“Hatters have the day. Hooters have the night.”

Sabatino gave a mighty sigh, obviously tired of explaining everyday facts to strangers with little minds.

“Hatters keep the day, all right? At eventide, they give way to Hooters, and Hooters rule the night. And spare me any more questions, Finn. I am quite exhausted, and Father isn't well. Things are as they are, the way they've always been. It's foolish to question why.”

“Please don't ask him,” Letitia said, “I really don't think I want to know.”

“Not only a quite attractive Newlie,” Sabatino said, “but one with common sense as well.”

He studied Letitia with a practiced eye, a man with a bent for exploration, mapping out places he thought he'd like to see.

Finn was put out, and thoroughly annoyed with the fellow's lies, his arrogant ways, his lecherous remarks, his lewd and obvious leers. There was no threat he could imagine that would make him linger in this most peculiar land.

“We'll be going,” he said, taking Letitia's hand. “I'm sure we'll find a place to stay with little trouble at all. If I see a-a Hooter, I'll run the fellow through.”

“You don't listen, do you, Finn?”

Sabatino squinted into the setting sun. His father had taken advantage of the stop to squat on the roughshod road. He had scarcely said a word since they left the outskirts of town. Still, Finn decided, the old man seemed to be feeling better, and was more alert now. Alert enough to follow his son's example, and inspect Letitia's parts.

“You think I'm joking about the dangers of stomping about in the night?” Sabatino went on. “Fine. Do it, then. Perhaps the Hooters won't notice you're there. Maybe they won't even notice your lovely friend. Maybe. But I shouldn't count on it, Finn.”

“If you're trying to frighten me, forget it. That might work on simple folk. It won't work with me.”

“It's working on me,” Letitia said, folding her arms close about her chest. “He's scaring me. He's scaring me quite a bit.”

“I'm sorry,” Finn said. “He's well aware of what he's doing, my dear. There may be such things as Hooters, but I strongly doubt that. What are the chances of two clans of marching morons in one dismal town? Very slim, I'd say.”

“But you don't know that, Finn.”

“I am not wholly certain, no. But I-”

“Before we go, would you ask this fellow where we might obtain lubrication?” Julia croaked, scrambling from Finn's right shoulder to his left. “If I don't get a little oil in my gears, I'm going to lock up tight. That will be on your head, Finn, not mine.”

“Shut up. You'll just have to wait, like everyone else.”

“Mr. Sabatino?” Letitia bit her lip. Finn knew she was terribly frightened, for her nose was now constantly a- twitch. Her eyes were dark as river stones-he could even see a little white, and that was rare indeed.

“Sir, will you be truthful with me, if I ask?”

“Of course I will, my dear.” Sabatino offered a slight mockery of a bow. “I would lie to your friend, whom I truly despise, but I could never tell a falsehood to you.”

“Oh, please …” Finn said, shaking his head at the sky.

“Then tell me true. Are there really such things as Hooters like you said?”

“Oh, indeed there are.”

“And what exactly do they-do?”

“They hoot, for one thing. All through the dark of night.”

“And what besides that?”

“Harmful things, you mean.”

“Yes. That is how I'd put it. Harmful things …”

Sabatino glanced at Finn, then back to Letitia.

“What they do is different from what the Hatters do. The Hooters neither skin, flog, strangle nor gut folks during their rites. What they do-normally, I mean-is slice off a victim's fingers, one at a time, then all of one's toes, then an eye and an ear and a nose. After that comes the scary part-”

“Damn you, that's enough,” Finn said, for Letitia had turned a paler shade of white.

“What they do,” Sabatino finished, “is burn every-thing-every being-in sight. This is what they like to do best.”

“You've actually-seen such barbarous acts?”

“Of course not, why would I?”

“You see,” Finn said, turning to Letitia, who shivered in the hollow of his arms. “You see what he's doing now?”

“I don't have to see,” Sabatino said abruptly. “Father was a Hooter until he retired. A Grand High Hooter, as a fact.”

Sabatino's father looked up with a toothless grin. “A Grand High Hooter Third Class. No one hardly ever gets higher than that.”

“This is true, then?” Finn looked at the old man in a different, more chilling light.

“Why do you think the Hatters made such a big thing out of doing him in? Anytime a Hatter can get a High Hooter …” Sabatino spread his hands. There was, his gesture said, really nothing else to add.

Finn held Letitia close, but her trembling wouldn't go away.

“What I am about to say,” Sabatino said, gazing at the early evening sky, “is a thing so foreign, so alien to all I believe, all I hold dear, that I cannot imagine these words are about to emerge from me. Though I loathe you with all my heart, Finn, I owe you a debt, and a debt I must pay. This is why I offer you-I can scarcely even say it now-I offer you the sanctuary of my home for the night …”

Sabatino rolled his eyes and ran a hand across his brow. “Father, I must ask your permission for this-heresy of mine.”

Father, though, had fallen fast asleep on the ground.

“Very well, then. I will take the responsibility myself.”

“No, most assuredly not,” Finn said. He turned to Letitia Louise. “If I had been thinking straight, I would have headed right for the harbor when the mast of the vessel first appeared. That, my dear, is the path we shall follow now. I think I can assure you no Hooters or other apparitions will appear.”

“I am-ever in your hands, dear Finn.”

“Are you sure? You seem uncertain to me.”

“Not at all, love. How could you ever imagine that?”

“I'm grateful for your trust. I'm confident we'll come safely through.”

“Yes. I'm-certain we will.”

“Are you two finished?” Sabatino said with a sigh. “If you are, I bid you farewell with this parting word. When you reach the sea-if you did, I mean-you would find that the Madeline Rose is not at the wharf anymore, but is anchored in the bay. You would find all other vessels are anchored there as well.

“It matters very little if you don't believe in Hooters. I assure you the good captains do, as they've all been