us in.'
'There's no way we're going to bullshit our way past this guy, and you know it. He's Goddamn well taking us back here so that he can shoot us.'
'I think there's still a chance we can pull this off, Mongo. This is my hand; let me play it out.'
'What the hell do you know that I don't? What were all of you talking about back there?'
'This big joker's more than just a guard; he's a member of the commune. He shares their beliefs.'
'What the hell difference does that make?'
'There's no time to explain now. Just keep that Colt hidden, and let me do all the talking.'
We came around the blind turn and Garth had to slam on the brakes to avoid smashing into the Willys, which was blocking the road. The uniformed man was standing next to the Willys, beret pulled down low over his forehead, gloved hands folded across his chest.
'Leave the gun, Mongo,' Garth whispered.
I left the gun-in my belt, next to my spine, under my shirt. As far as I was concerned, Lot 56 had softened Garth's brain. I didn't plan on letting the uniformed man bury Garth and me in a Wisconsin apple orchard, and I didn't want us to end up looking like the squishy things we had seen splashed over the Caddy's fender. I was in no mood to horse around with anyone-or to waste time. In a way, I preferred Plan B. I was certain that, as night fell, I could infiltrate the commune, find some clue to the whereabouts of Siegmund Loge, and get out again. Garth might not be able to see in the dark, but I could. It was daylight I couldn't handle.
'Stay cool, brother,' Garth continued as the man walked up to the side of the car and motioned for Garth to roll down the window.
'Get out,' the man said.
Garth opened the door, stepped out onto the dirt road. I opened my door, waited for Garth to take my arm and help me out. I let him guide me around to the front of the car, where we stood like soldiers awaiting inspection.
The man raised a gloved hand, rested his index finger on the center of Garth's chest. 'You're a liar.'
'No,' Garth replied simply.
'Who sent you here?'
'Fa- '
'You private detectives? Parents? Reporters?'
'We're pilgrims.'
'You're a liar.'
'No.'
'Who are the hundred and forty-four thousand?'
'I told you- '
'Who's your sponsor?'
'Father.'
'Have you brought an offering?'
'We have some money- '
'If you had any business being here, you'd know I wasn't talking about money.'
'I've tried to explain to you- '
'You say your brother's blind. Where's his cane?'
'I'm his cane.'
The man laughed harshly. 'You're not only a liar, you're an idiot. No sponsor would ever send us a dwarf, what's more a blind dwarf.'
Without warning the man's hand shot toward my face. Somehow, I managed to limit my reaction to screwing my eyes shut. Nothing happened. I'd expected my glasses to be torn off. They weren't, and when I opened my eyes I was amazed to find that Garth's reflexes had been quick enough to enable him to reach out and grip the man's wrist, stopping the hand in midair. I was impressed.
Rather than reach for his gun, the man brought his other gloved hand back, cocked it with the fingers straight, the edge on a direct line with Garth's temple. Garth continued to grip the other wrist, but otherwise made no move to defend himself.
I was content to wait and watch-for the moment; if the man couldn't control his itch to strike Garth, I was going to scratch his brains with a bullet.
'Boris mustn't be hurt,' Garth said evenly. 'He's holy.'
My brother's fingers remained locked around the man's left wrist; the man's right hand remained cocked in the air. I just remained.
'I wasn't going to hurt him,' the uniformed man said at last. His tone had become slightly uncertain. 'I just wanted to look at his eyes.'
'That will hurt him. His affliction was cast upon him by Father personally. It's special-as is mine. Light burns Boris.'
Now it was the man who seemed impressed. Slowly, the gloved hand came down. Garth released his grip on the other wrist.
Since there had been no claim of my being mute, I decided it might be a good time to do a little downfield blocking for my brother. I cleared my throat, spoke in my sweetest voice. 'If this man wishes to gaze upon Father's mark, Billy, let him. My pain will be a small price to pay if it will enable us to be admitted into Father's larger family.'
Garth nodded, stepped aside. The uniformed man stepped closer, reached out with both hands and- tentatively-removed my smoked glasses.
I knew what was going to happen, and every instinct screamed for me to close my eyes-but I had to leave them open long enough for our interrogator to see the lack of iris and the huge pupils that extended vertically, like knife wounds, across the eyeballs. I managed-and paid the price. The raw sunlight poured through the pupils and smashed into my optic nerve like a bullet. Then I did go blind as the inside of my head went nova in an explosion of crimson. I bit back a scream as tears flooded my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. My hands flew to my face a split second later, but the man had seen my eyes-and the sight had apparently produced the desired effect. I heard a gasp, and then a click as the glasses dropped to the frozen, hard-packed dirt at my feet; I winced inwardly, but there was no sound of breaking glass.
I felt Garth's arms wrap around me, realized that he had gone down on his hands and knees. 'Hurts, huh?' he whispered in my ear.
'Like a son-of-a-bitch,' I whispered back, nuzzling my face in his shoulder and allowing him to pat the back of my head. 'Speaking of sons-of-bitches- '
'Shh. If you can continue to refrain from making smart-ass remarks, I think I'm going to be able to pull this off.'
'How do you know?'
'I can smell it.'
That sounded pretty much like a smart-ass remark to me, but I didn't have time to reply as Garth unwrapped himself from around my neck, wiped the tears from my face, and repositioned the smoked glasses on the bridge of my nose.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. Everything was surrounded by an aura, as if I'd spent too much time in a heavily chlorinated pool. However, the pain was beginning to ebb, and I could at least see once again. It also made me feel considerably better to see that my snake eyes had given the uniformed man a pretty good case of the shakes; even through the smoked glasses I could see that his face was ashen, and he was breathing very rapidly.
Garth stayed on his hands and knees. He shuffled around in the dirt until he was facing the other man, then clasped his hands in front of him and bowed his head. 'It happened when the vision came to us,' he said in a hoarse, dramatic stage whisper that would have made Laurence Olivier proud-at the delivery, if not the content. 'The vision asked if each of us would accept an affliction upon our bodies if that would assure our admission into the family of Father's Children. We accepted, of course. Our afflictions were visited upon us, and we were told to come here. We were not told anything else.'
It was the most outrageous line of bullshit I'd ever heard, but what was even more outrageous was the fact that it actually seemed to have an effect on the uniformed man. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he
