Part 5 (1/2)

And out popped Forrester's head from the room. The Lab Coat Man sighed and turned to Prof. Sigger.

”Once we're ready, we should be able to conclude everything quickly.

Neoldner will help you out with the details. I think you'll enjoy the perks. The travel. The entertainment, if you like that sort of thing.”

”What about the entertainment?” Sigger asked.

”Soon!” replied the Lab Coat Man, misunderstanding, his eyes twinkling with an annoying but enigmatic flare.

”So,” Neoldner began after the Lab Coat Man had left, ”what size jacket do you wear?”

11. An Unintended Mishap ”It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.”

-- Agatha Christie

Tom walked into his parents' trailer home to find Alona crying on the couch. He barely knew her, saw her only twice before, and with Kurt, so he figured she had to be a loser.

”Why are you here?” he grumbled.

”Kurt's missing!” she shouted, and let loose with a protracted wail.

Tom's mother came in and hugged Tom tightly, then slapped him across the cheek. ”Your cousin's gone missing, and you don't care!”

Tom rubbed his cheek and said, ”He's probably just sleeping off a date with Rhonda in her backseat!”

Alona wailed again. Tom couldn't help thinking that if that wail had been sung, it would have raised the hackles of even the greatest opera devotee, a majestic solo of anguish and a thousand angry paper-cuts.

”Sorry,” muttered Tom.

”The police won't do anything until he's been gone twenty-four hours!”

Betty exclaimed. ”Twenty-four hours! And he disappeared while he was playing in that band of his!” She went on to explain how Alona had called after she received a letter from Kurt -- how he hadn't been at home or with the band -- how, according to the other members of the band and a half-dozen other witnesses, he had disappeared the night before from a bathroom with no windows. Tom listened to most of this and nodded. He kept nodding even after he stopped listening. Once his mother was done talking, he stopped nodding. She didn't seem to notice the difference.

The TV across the room was on a little too loud, so he decided to shut it off, grab a sandwich, and sneak out of the house again. Maybe he should go into work, even though he had the night off. Maybe get a second job. He had to earn enough to move out of here. Enough to move out yesterday.

”And this just in at WXOR,” said the newscaster. ”An English professor -- ”

”Turn up the TV, Tommy, will you?!” Betty shouted. Tom sighed, annoyed at being called Tommy in front of a female, and reached for the switch.

” -- and disappeared earlier today without explanation. He was discovered missing after an unknown female student was seen running from his office. Police are still searching for both Prof. Turgy K.

Sigger and the student. If you have any information, please call the WXOR Viewer Hot Line(R) at 387-4278 -- ”

A scream interrupted the newscaster, which acoustically channeled the shattered death of a priceless chandelier. To Tom's surprise, Alona had leaped from the couch and had grabbed his arms, forcing him to look directly into her eyes. ”That's him! He just disappeared when I looked the other way!” She began to sway, and Tom instinctively reached for her. ”He's missing too!” she cried.

Then she swooned and fell forward perfectly into Tom's waiting arms.

He helped her to the couch as his mother dashed to the kitchen to fill a gla.s.s of water.

Tom looked around, as if to see if anyone had been watching him. If anyone had seen what he had seen. If there was any way out. But there wasn't.

Tom was utterly, and helplessly, in love.