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Show 89. XIII Stephanie hurried along the darkened street, concentrating on the whorls of snow that eddied around her feet. For a week now, since Chic had hypnotized JD, she'd been trying to get him to talk about what had happened inside the UFO. "I don't know," was all he'd say, or "Lay off, will you?" if she pushed too hard. Couldn't he really remember anything more? They'd all agreed not to tell anyone about their experiment at Chic's place Friday night. It was too wild. Too scary. Just as Chic had said, JD did remember afterwards, everything that happened-up to a point. That point, Stephanie realized, was where she had interfered. Surprisingly enough, though, JD acted more like himself during the next few days than he had since Skull Mountain. His appetite seemed to return, he started teasing Stephanie again; he even got the family in hysterics one night at the dinner table, telling how Chic had shown up for gym that day in a 1920 swim suit. And then the nightmare returned. Stephanie shuddered, remembering the chilling sounds that sent them all running to JD's room last night. He was sitting up in bed, his eyes like glass, staring straight ahead and screaming. They'd had a terrible time waking him up. Stephanie couldn't forget how he shook all over, how his dad held him in his arms like a little boy. "I'm right here, JD. You're okay," he'd said, rocking him back and forth. By the time Stephanie arrived for work at Kay's Korners, her face was a study in anxiety. She wondered, without really caring, if she'd have any Christmas spirit at all this year. Even admiring the window display she'd arranged for Kay-the sealing wax on fancy scrolls, the candlelight flickering among country scenes on the cards-didn"t bring back the Charles Dickensy feeling she'd had the day before when everything seemed to be going so well. The shop was empty when she walked in, but she could hear Kay making noises in the back room. "I'm here," Stephanie called, taking off her coat, glad to have a minute to restore her public face-the one that looked bright and cheerful whether she was or not. |