092117

Still contagious?

Roxane drew Steve's attention to them. She leaned on her hands. "Put down the paper."

His eyes were conveyed by her low-cut top to the tanned shapes within. "Very nice," he thought, as always, and then noticed a large freckle that seemed to be sliding towards her cleavage.

"What the hell is that, Dr. Stevens?" she demanded.

He took of his glasses and leaned forward for a closer look. It appeared to be some kind of crude drawing of a monster, complete with green scales.

"A new tattoo?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Later, she admitted that she should not have slugged him, but maintained that it was his fault they'd lost track of the migrating blot.

Close examination of Roxane's epidermis (and Steve's) turned up nothing unexpected, but two days later a herd (pack?) of the creatures were observed gliding all over the kitchen cabinets.

Roxane ushered Joey and his friends outside ("Cool cabinets, Ms. Stevens!") and set about dealing with the infestation. A fly swatter had no perceptible effect, nor did pesticide spray. Paint remover repelled the vermin, but the cabinets just didn't look the same afterwards. After about an hour they were just … gone.

"As if they turned and went into the cabinets," she told Steve that night, "but they weren't inside at all."

Steve decided that the next step was to photograph the "Space Invaders." The next morning he came rushing in from the bathroom. "The sink! They're on the sink!" Steve grabbed the camera and dashed back out of the room. He took one photo of the sink and the invaders were gone. Disappointed, he downloaded the lone image to his computer and sent it to a few colleagues.

In retrospect, he admitted that he should not have used the digital camera.

Publ. Drowning Atlantis, 2007