Under the Dome

'Oh. Oh f**k, here it comes again.'

She lay down on the couch, shaking all over. She clutched one of the sofa-pillows against her chest and stared at the ceiling. Pretty soon her teeth started to clatter - a very annoying sound, in Horace s opinion.

He brought her the ball, hoping to distract her, but she pushed him away. 'No, honey, not now. Let me get through this.'

Horace took the ball back in front of the blank TV and lay down. The woman's shaking moderated, and the sick-smell moderated lalong with it. The arms clutching the pillow loosened as she first began to drift and then to snore.

Which meant it was chowtime.

Horace slipped under the table again, walking over the manila envelope containing theVADER file. Beyond it was popcorn Nirvana. O lucky dog!

Horace was still snarking, his tailless rear end wagging with pleasure that was close to ecstasy (the scattered kernels were incredibly buttery, incredibly salty, and - best of all - aged to perfection), when the deadvoice spoke again.

Take that to her.

But he couldn't. His mistress was gone.

The other her.

The deadvoice brooked no refusal, and the popcorn was almost gone, anyway. Horace marked the few remaining blossoms for later attention, then backed up until the envelope was in front of him. For a moment he forgot what he was supposed to do. Then he remembered and picked it up in his mouth.

Good dog.

21

Something cold licked Andrea's cheek. She pushed it away and turned on her side. For a moment or two she almost escaped back into healing sleep, and then there was a bark.

Shurrup, Horace.' She put the sofa pillow over her head.

There was another bark, and then thirty-four pounds of Corgi landed on her legs.

'AW,' Andi cried, sitting up. She looked into a pair of brilliant hazel eyes and a foxy, grinning face. Only there was something interrupting that grin. A brown manila envelope. Horace dropped it on her stomach and jumped back down. He wasn't supposed to get on furniture other than his own, but the deadvoice had made this seem like an emergency.

Andrea picked up the envelope, which had been dented by the points of Horace's teeth and was faintly marked with the tracks of his paws. There was also a kernel of popcorn stuck to it, which she brushed away. Whatever was inside felt fairly bulky. Printed on the front of the envelope in block letters were the words VADER FILE. Below that, also printed: JULIA SHUMWAY.

'Horace? Where did you get this?'

Horace couldn't answer that, of course, but he didn't have to. The kernel of popcorn told her where. A memory surfaced then, one so shimmery and unreal that it was more like a dream. Was it a dream, or had Brenda Perkins really come to her door after that first terrible night of withdrawal? While the food riot was going on at the other end of town?

Will you hold this for me, dear? Just for a little while? I have an errand to run and I don't want to take it with me.

'She was here,' she told Horace, 'and she had this envelope. I took it... at least I think I did... but then I had to throw up. Throw up again. I might have tossed it at the table while I was running for the John. Did it fall off? Did you find it on the floor?'

Horace uttered one sharp bark. It could have been agreement; it could have been I'm ready for more ball if you are.

'Well, thanks,'Andrea said. 'Good pup. I'll give it to Julia as soon as she comes back.'

She no longer felt sleepy, and she wasn't - for the moment - shivery, either. What she was was curious. Because Brenda was dead. Murdered. And it must have happened not long after she delivered this envelope. Which might make it important.

'I'll just have a tiny peek, shall I?' she said.

Horace barked again. To Andi Grinnell it sounded like Why not?

Andrea opened the envelope, and most of Big Jim Rennie s secrets fell out into her lap.

22

Claire got home first. Benny came next, then Norrie. The three of them were sitting together on the porch of the McClatchey house when Joe arrived, cutting across lawns and keeping to the shadows. Benny and Norrie were drinking warm Dr Brown's Cream Soda. Claire was nursing a bottle of her husband's beer as she rocked slowly to and fro on the porch glider. Joe sat down beside her, and Claire put an arm around his bony shoulders. He's fragile, she thought. He doesn't know it, but he is. No more to him than a bird.

'Dude,' Benny said, handing him the soda he'd saved for him. 'We were startin to get a little worried.'

"Miz Shumway had a few more questions about the box,' Joe said. 'More than I could answer, really. Gosh, it's warm out, isn't it? Warm as a summer night.' He turned his gaze upward. 'And look at that moon!

'I don't want to,' Norrie said. 'It's scary'

You okay, honey?' Claire asked.

'Yeah, Mom. You?'

She smiled. 'I don't know. Is this going to work? What do you guys think? I mean really think.'

For a moment none of them answered, and that scared her more than Anything. Then Joe kissed her on the cheek and said,'It'll work.'

'You're sure?'

'Yeah.'

She could always tell when he was lying - although she knew the talent might leave her when he was older - but she didn't call him on it this time. She just kissed him back, her breath warm and somehow fatherly with beer. 'Just as long as there's no bloodshed.'

'No blood,' Joe said.

She smiled. 'Okay; that's good enough for me.'

They sat there in the dark a while longer, saying little. Then they went inside, leaving the town to sleep under the pink moon.

It was just past midnight.

BLOOD EVERYWHERE

1

It was twelve-thirty on the morning of October twenty-sixth when Julia let herself into Andrea's house. She did it quietly, but there was no need; she could hear music from Andi's little portable radio: the Staples Singers, kicking holy ass with 'Get Right Church.'