would do something uncouth like grab something out of the bathroom on impulse. Then she thought about it and remembered him putting his arm around her when the car was dangling. She remembered the firm security of it. If he did open the door, he meant her no harm and no disrespect. If it actually happened and it was him, he had a reason. But what would justify that?
Too tired to make an issue of it, or to figure it out, she went back to her reverie, content that if anyone was present they were gone now. When she was out and dried, Pepacita passed her everything she needed, including a pair of jeans and a blouse that fit perfectly. Even the bra was her size. She made her way from the bathroom back to the kitchen, where she saw Pepacita setting the chicken piccata on plates and neatly arranging the vegetables.
'I'll be right back.' Once again Pepacita disappeared down the hallway.
Nate came wandering in. Maria walked to the table for one more bite of smoked salmon, when there was a noise at the back door. In an instant the house became pitch black. Then came a crash so forceful she thought it an explosion; black turned to bright whiteness, a giant sheet of flame burned into her face, leaving sparkles of light dancing in front of her eyes. As she fell to the floor, it felt as though someone had violently clapped their hands over her ears. Her body hit the oak flooring and rolled. There was no pain. She tried to remember where Nate was.
'Call an ambulance.' She heard a faraway voice, and as soon as she heard it, her head exploded in a throbbing ache. 'Call an ambulance.'
She shook herself, struggling to regain her senses, trying to see something other than sparklers. She remembered standing in the family room. Now she was lying flat on the floor. Sounds seemed to travel down a long tunnel. Trying to touch the fingers of her right hand to those of her left, she felt-if she could make the contact-as though she would be able to put together her memory of standing in the room and the current certainty that she was now on the floor. Nothing connected.
She heard herself say aloud: 'Where's Nate?'
'He's right here. He was farther back. He's shook up, but I think he'll be OK. That's more than I can say for the bastards who did this.'
She saw a strange oblong head looking down at her. It was very fuzzy and indistinct and there were still myriad points of light in front of her eyes. 'My head hurts.'
'I know.' Dan's hand smoothed her brow. Clasping his hand in hers felt good.
His face began to come into focus. Then Nate's. Dan had his arm around him and was holding him to his chest. Nate was looking a little bewildered, but then his dad gently shook him and he smiled.
'Those guys must have thought it was the Fourth of July, Nate.'
'What blew up?' Nate said.
'On TV they call them stun grenades. And I'd say Ms. Fischer here was certainly stunned.'
'My chest hurts-my purse.'
'It's on the floor over there.'
'Is the photo there? The papers?'
''Could you hand it to me?'' Dan said to a frantic Pepacita, who was studying Nate.
'Are they there?' Maria asked anxiously. 'I'm scared,' Nate said. She could see Dan still holding him close.
Dan shuffled through the purse with his free hand. 'Gone,' he said. 'They wanted them so bad they came right in after them.'
Finally Maria managed, with Dan's help, to sit up.
'This is a home, for God's sake,' Dan said.
'Well, they didn't get what they wanted.'
'What?' Dan said.
'I'll tell you later,' she said. 'I can see both your faces now. What a relief.'
'Tell me now.'
''OK, OK. I took pictures of the pages with your camera.''
'Brilliant. The ambulance will be here in a minute.'
'Call it off unless Nate needs it. I'm not really hurt, just disoriented.'
'You sure?'
'I'm sure.'
'Nate, how are you doin'?'
'Fine, Dad,' the boy said, obviously trying to be brave.
''We're going to the emergency room. If nothing is wrong, then they'll release you,' Dan said.
'What if the police start asking questions?'
'You may be right about that.' He paused. 'I suppose we could take you in the car. We shouldn't say anything to the authorities if we can help it until we talk to the clients.'
'All they did was steal back what we took from them.'
'This was different and you know it.'
'Our theft's different from theirs?'
'We aren't like them.' Dan hugged Nate to his side. 'Not a bit.'
Pepacita canceled the ambulance. Dan, Maria, Pepacita, and Nate drove to the emergency room with the camera in hand, and by the time they arrived, Maria claimed she felt 'almost normal.' Nate, although frightened, was not physically injured. Not wanting to argue any more, Dan acceded and they pulled away from the emergency-room door.
'Let's pack some stuff and go to the Palmer Inn. The door is broken; furniture has burn marks; one window is broken,' Dan said as they drove.
'You know there's that logging conference in town,' Maria said. 'There won't be a decent room left. And it's three o'clock in the morning.'
When they got back to the house, Pepacita looked dubious and sighed. Dan studied Nate.
'I'm OK,' Nate said.
'Let's all sleep in the living room, like camping,' Maria said. Dan paused as if it was a bit of a stretch. 'It's at the other end of the house. They didn't come in there.'
'Yeah,' Nate said. 'We could even put up the tent.'
Dan smiled at Pepacita and took her aside. They talked, but Maria couldn't hear.
Then Dan came back to Maria. 'We were just saying, maybe if we closed off this part of the house and all got in the tent, it would seem different enough for Nate.'
'I'm not scared anymore, Dad.'
'Uh-huh,' Dan said. 'OK, we'll try the tent. But, Nate, if you can't sleep, we're going to the Palmer Inn.' Dan turned to Maria. 'My wife had a heavy flannel nightgown she used to wear with stretch pants. What it lacks in looks, I was told it makes up for in comfort.'
'That sounds great,' Maria said. It took her about two minutes in the bathroom to change.
They moved the couches and chairs in the living room back to the walls, then put the tent in the middle of the room, tying off the lines to the furniture. It was a good-sized cabin-style tent. Dan and Maria blew up four air mattresses.
'I'm too old and fat for this,' Pepacita announced after surveying the situation. 'I think I'll sleep in bed.'
'OK,' Dan said.
'Don't let the bedbugs bite,' Nate said. After the three of them were in their already-too-hot sleeping bags, the lights were out, and Maria was almost asleep, she was slightly startled to feel Dan's hand cupped over her ear.
'This is unusual.'
'Not as unusual as what's going on out there in the woods,' she whispered back.
David Dun
At The Edge
'What did you see when you were in the tree?'
''I'm worried Nate will hear you,' Maria said. ''I imagine he's pretty keyed up.'
'He's out like a light.'
'Let's talk in the morning.'
