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
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