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Show 15. the life out of them. The man, pulling on his pants over long underwear, kept repeating, "What's she say? What's she talking about?" And his wife, holding Stephanie in her big warm arms right there at bedside in the camper, cradling and shushing and patting . .. "What happened now? Who disappeared?" the woman asked when Stephanie finally quieted. "We're camped down the road and we saw this . . . thing! But it's gone and I don't know where he is . . . my brother. He went out to take a picture of it." "Was it a wild cat?" the man asked gruffly, at the same time lifting his rifle off the rack above the window. "JD said it was a UFO. It was huge. And bright. Didn't you see anything?" "A UFO?" the woman looked at her husband, then back at Stephanie. Quickly she pulled on a rough plaid coat and got her feet into some boots, "Come on, Clarence, we'll have to drive up there." Then they were all in the front seat of the camper truck, riding roughly along the same stretch of road Stephanie had just covered. They sat forward in their seats, scanning the road and the brush alongside wherever the lights touched. Then, as they came around the point of trees and into the clearing, the man slowed the truck, shining his bright! on the VW with the driver's door still standing open, then on the lean-to with their rumpled sleeping bags inside. "JD was running that way," Stephanie pointed toward the far line of trees, "when I last saw him." Her voice broke. Clarence trained the truck lights on the middle of the clearing, then reached under the seat and handed his wife a flashlight. "Take this, Ruth. I'll get the lantern." Stephanie jumped down from the truck to get their own flashlight, then quickly hurried back to the camper, "JD!" she called, "where are you? Can you hear me?" There was no answer. "Jay Deeee," the others joined in. They stood listening. A bird fluttered somewhere behind them. Then silence again. Their lights showed nothing but the empty expanse of grass and sage. "Fan out," Clarence instructed them. "We'll try to cover the clearing. And don't worry," he gripped Stephanie's arm. "See that streak of light over there? It'll soon be dawn. We'll find him." |