by Kevin Ryan
And they're about to lose the six of us, she thought. She shot a glance a Michael. They should have been friendlier to illegal aliens.
Michael was sitting in silence, like the rest of them. What drove her crazy was that he seemed almost relaxed, even after that incident with Liz.
Everyone else was on edge. Max seemed particularly tense, with every muscle on his wiry frame taut. And still, somehow he managed to give the impression of brooding even as he drove.
When Michael saw her looking at him, he actually grinned back at her. He was taller than Max, and more thickly built. Now his comfortable frame was sprawled on the seat. Something was definitely going on with him.
Maria knew the other… more normal… members of the group were waiting for the same thing she was. In the dis- tance, she saw the sign. In a few seconds, she could read it: YOU ARE LEAVING NEW MEXICO, LAND OF ENCHANTMENT.
She waited for the exact moment that the van crossed the dividing line.
Then it was over and she saw another sign, which said WELCOME TO COLORADO.
All these years, all that worry of being trapped in Roswell and getting out was as simple as climbing into a van and driving for a few hours.
Colorado wasn't New York. In fact, it looked pretty much like the rocky desert they just left. Still, being there felt good just the same. Maria could tell the others felt like she did. The tension in the car went down a couple of 'notches as soon as they crossed the border. Maybe I'll miss it someday, Maria thought, but not any time soon.
Maria thought about her mother and felt a pang of regret. They hadn't even had a proper good-bye. Well, there will be time far that one day, she thought.
Except for her mom, most of what she liked about home was in the van with her: her best friend, Liz, and then there was Space Boy. What were they to each other now? Was there even a name for it? She shot Michael another glance, allowing herself to think about what might happen to him. What would hap- pen to him if Liz's premonition came true? Whatever he was to her, she couldn't stand the thought of him dying.
"Maybe you don't have to fight," Maria found herself saying out loud.
"What?" Michael said.
"If Liz's dream comes true. Maybe you don't have to fight these aliens. Maybe you can just surrender or some- thing," Maria said, noticing that all eyes in the van except for Max's were suddenly on her.
Michael shook his head. "No way, the other aliens would make fun of us," he said.
Annoyed, Maria said, "This is serious!”
"Yes," Michael replied. "And these people, or whatever they are, are very serious. Our only chance will be to beat them. If it comes to a fight, we go to the mattresses," he said with an air of finality.
Maria was no longer annoyed. Now was angry. "That is such macho crap. What does that even mean?" she shouted.
"It means that when it starts to go down on the street, we don't leave until it's finished," Michael said.
"What does that have to do with mattresses? And I've heard it before. Is it from The Guy Book of Stupid Phrases or something?”
"It's from The Godfather" Max, Michael, and Kyle said in unison.
Maria shook her head. "Do all guys see themselves liv- ing out The Godfather?" she said.
"Yes," said the three guys in the car.
Maria shook her head again.
"Look," Michael explained with forced patience. "All guys see themselves as one of the Corleone brothers: Michael, the quiet but brilliant leader of the family, or Sonny, the hotheaded muscle.”
"Max, you don't buy this, do you?" Maria said, looking for a ray of sanity. "You don't think of yourself as Michael?”
"Well, I am… was King, after all," he said.
"I guess that would make you Sonny?" Maria said to Michael.
"If the shoe fits," Michael said.
Rolling her eyes, Maria turned to Kyle. "What about you, Mister Buddha? Tell me you don't think of yourself as… who?”
Kyle's face took on a serious expression. "It's true that Buddhist philosophy gives me a sense of peace that makes the Mafia metaphor a bad fit. On the other hand, it allows me to take a larger view of important issues, making me… if possible… even more like Michael," he concluded with a satisfied grin.
They are all crazy, Maria thought. Then she remembered something about those movies. "Wait, there was another brother, Free… Frey…," she said.
"Fredo," Michael said immediately. "Yeah, no guy sees himself as Fredo. He was the cowardly, loser brother. Plus, he betrayed Michael.”
"Well, I know plenty of Fredos. I've dated many of them," Maria said sourly, shooting Michael a look.
"Well, no guy sees himself as Fredo, ever," Michael said.
"In fact," Max added, "the more like Fredo a guy is, the less likely he is to see it.”
"You are twisted… sick and twisted," Maria said to Michael. She looked at Max, then at Kyle. "And not just you, the whole gender.”
"You asked," Michael said, "We're just providing information.”
Maria grunted and looked at Liz for support. Her best friend had been completely silent since she'd told them about her premonition. To Maria's surprise, Liz was watch- ing the exchange with a smile on her face.
"I'm glad you find this amusing," Maria said.
The frustration on Maria's face only made Liz smile wider. That made Maria smile herself.
Maria tossed her head back into her seat. "Impossible, all of you.”
Liz actually laughed, as Michael looked on with satis- faction.
Well, Space Boy might be driving me completely crazy, but at least he's good for a laugh, Maria thought.
Another thought quickly pushed that one out of the way. She barely remembered The Godfather, just a few scenes and images. One of them was terrible: Sonny met up with a bunch of guys with machine guns at a tollbooth.
There was a lot of blood, and that was the end for Sonny.
She took a look at Michael and wondered what she was in for with him.
Kyle heard his stomach growl. With all the excitement of leaving Roswell, and then Liz's dream, he had not thought much about food.
"I could go for a Snapple," he heard Michael say.
"Where's the next town, Liz?" Max asked.
Liz took a minute to wrestle with a beat-up road atlas she had found somewhere in the van. The oversize book was coming apart, but Liz located the right map and said, "I don't think this road is on the map, it's too small," Liz said.
Kyle scanned the two-lane road. It was a little less des- olate than the rocky desert that seemed to make up most of New Mexico. Southern Colorado was still a rocky desert, but it was one with more scrub and even a few trees. And the hills in the distance were a promising green.
"There has to be a town eventually," Kyle said, though they hadn't passed one for miles. And he could not see one up ahead on the twisting road that they were traveling.
Suddenly, there was a snap from somewhere in the front, and the van shuddered. Immediately, it began to slow down.. "Something's wrong," Max said. The car was coasting now, and losing speed quickly. He guided it to the road's shoulder… though shoulder was a kind term for the dusty earth next to the road.
A moment later they had come to a stop.
"Out of gas, Maxwell?" Michael asked.
"Not according to the gauge," Max said. "We should have over a quarter of a tank.”
"I think something went under the hood," Kyle said. "I heard a pop.”
Max nodded and said, "I'll take care of it," as he got out of the van.
"I'm going to stretch my legs," Maria said.
Michael followed her out of the car, and then Kyle did himself. He turned back to see Isabel coming. He instinc- tively reached out a hand to take her arm and help her out.
She tensed at his touch, and Kyle was immediately self- conscious. He realized that he could not remember Isabel speaking for hours since they had left.
A look at her face told him why. Isabel was always so controlled; it
was strange to see her look… fragile. Her eyes were red… not from crying, Kyle knew, but from keeping herself from doing it.
Kyle hadn't given up nearly as much as she had. In fact, had he given up anything? A job in the local garage, where his boss had laughed in his face when Kyle had suggested that he might eventually become a partner. Kyle hadn't even been a full mechanic. He was just an assistant.
Just three years ago, he had been starting linebacker- running back at Roswell High and had Liz Parker as his girlfriend. He had been student athlete of the month, he remembered, and that had seemed very important to him at the time. It was during that month that things had started to go wrong between him and Liz.
Ultimately, he knew that he hadn't really loved Liz… not like Max did. Still, at the time, he couldn't imagine wanting anyone more. What had happened in the years since then? Well, a lot of strange things tied into the Big Alien Secret. But none of that really had anything to do with his fate later.
He was a good football player… one of the most tal- ented on the team. The coach had given him both offen- sive and defensive positions to keep him on the field more. He had led his division in sacks two years in a row, but it had been a small division. And in the end, no one was beating down his door to give him a scholarship. He was just not tall enough for college ball.
He had also been on the basketball team and the base- ball team. And he was good at each game, for Roswell. Yet, none of those sports would give him any kind of future, he knew. When the opportunity came to leave Roswell, he had jumped at it. He couldn't face spending the rest of his life in the garage. And he didn't belong in the sheriff's office like his dad and his grandfather did, he knew.
So he was in an ancient Volkswagen van with his friends in the middle of nowhere.
And this was the best prospect I had, he thought, with a smile. Back when he was still on the team and still cared about football, he'd thought he could never be closer to anyone than he was to the guys on the team.
A lot had changed since then. Taking a glance at his friends, he decided that this wasn't such a bad deal after all.
By now, Max had the hood of the van opened and was looking inside.
Michael looked up and down the road to confirm that there were no cars approaching and said, "All clear, let her rip.”
Max nodded and raised his hand, which was now glowing with green energy. He put his hand on the engine, concentrating hard for a few seconds. "Try it," he said to Liz, who was in the driver's seat now.
She turned the key; the engine clicked, but refused to start. Max was immediately by her side. "Did you give it gas?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Let me try," he said as Liz moved over.
Max turned the key. Still nothing but a click.
"I'll fix it," Isabel offered, taking a position in front of the open hood. Raising her hand, she used her powers on the engine, and then nodded to Max.
This time, there was a loud snap, then the familiar clicking sound.
Max jumped out of the car and tried again.
Nothing.
Michael weighed in.
Then Max and Isabel tried together.
Michael was shaking his head, "Wow, once unleashed, our alien-powers are truly staggering.”
Kyle couldn't watch anymore and walked over to the front of the van, where Max, Michael, and Isabel were star- ing at the uncooperative engine.
"Let me try," Kyle said.
His three friends looked at him in surprise. Liz came around front and said, "Have you been feeling any… powers?”
"Why didn't you say something?" Max said.
Kyle gave an apologetic shrug and said, "Well, I wasn't ready to talk about it, but… well, I've been an auto mechanic for the last two years!”
For a minute, his friends looked at him in confusion; then, Max gave him an embarrassed smile. "Of course… sorry, Kyle," Max said as the others laughed.
Leaning down into the engine compartment, Kyle found himself laughing too. "Stand back, my auto mechanic powers are pretty incredible," he said.
Taking a quick look, Kyle shook his head. The 1960s VW van was a classic. It represented a whole generation of youth and idealism. It was also old.
"Where did Jesse get this thing?" he asked, turning to Isabel, whose only response was a scowl. Fair enough. I deserved that, he thought.
Checking the back of the van, he found a broken wrench and a screwdriver. "We'll need some more tools if we're going to keep the van," he said to Max, who nodded.
Worse than I thought, Kyle thought as he looked over the engine. Twenty minutes later he looked up and said, "Well, there's good news and bad news.”
"Good news first, please," Maria said.
"The good news is that we've just witnessed a miracle: the van making it to Colorado," he said.
"But what's wrong with it?" Max asked.
"How much time have we got?" Kyle replied. Then, before Max could reply, he said, "Well, just about all of the belts and hoses need to be replaced. I figure you could spruce them up with your powers. However, two of the pistons aren't working. Now, that could be a tune-up, but I would need a shop to be sure. 1 also have a bad feeling about the starter, and finally, the thing that stopped us cold is the timing chain. It's busted.”
"How bad is that?" Michael said.
"On a foreign car? This old? Out in the middle of nowhere? Pretty bad. Even if we could find the part, I would need a full shop and a few hours to put it in," he said.
"But now that you know what it is, can't we just zap it?" Maria said. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been driv- ing all night and all day. I'm hungry and tired.”
"I don't think it's going to be that simple," Max said.
"Compared with putting a windshield back together, this should be easy," Maria said.
"But they know what a windshield looks like," Kyle said.
"To rearrange molecules of something, we have to be able to see it in our minds, or have a sense of how it works.
I think I was engineered with an intuitive sense about how the body works, which is why I can heal people," Max said.
"Unfortunately, an old car is more complicated than a piece of glass," Kyle said.
"How long would it take for you to teach me everything I needed to know to understand all the repairs?" Max asked.
"More time than we have today, and I won't know everything that's wrong until I take some stuff apart. I think we're going to have to get the van towed," Kyle said.
The others looked at Max, who thought for a moment and nodded his head. "Okay," he said.
Isabel and Michael nodded their agreement. For all of Max's protests about not wanting to be in charge, he was still making decision. And the others were still looking to him.
"Well, great!" Maria said. "But we're still in the middle of nowhere." She reached into her purse to take out her cell phone. "Who knows how long it will take for someone to get out here?”
"No," Max said firmly as Michael quickly took the cell phone from Maria.
"Hey," she said, grabbing for it as Michael kept it out of reach.
"Maria, we can't use a cell phone," Liz said.
"What!" she exclaimed.
"They could track us," Max said calmly.
"Who?" she said.
"Take your pick," Michael said. "The various bad guys we're trying to avoid, but my money would be on our per- sonal favorite, the Special Unit.”
"So what are we supposed to do? Just wait around in the middle of nowhere for someone to drive by? Well, I have news for you: It's been a long time since we've seen a car," Maria said. "We could be here for a while.”
Before anyone could respond, a pickup truck appeared in the distance. All heads turned to watch it approach from the direction they themselves had come.
"Or not," Michael said.
Maria squinted at him but didn't say anything.
Max leaned into the road and waved as the truck got closer. The pickup slowed and
came to a stop on the side of the road just ahead of them. The group moved closer, with Max in the lead.
There was a single middle-aged man inside. He leaned over and rolled down the passenger-side window as he gave the group and the van an appraising look. "Trouble with your van," he said. It was a statement, not a question, and his expression was neutral.
"Yes," Max said.
"Lucky for you I came by. We don't see a lot of traffic out here," the man said.
"We noticed," Max said. "How far is the nearest town?”
"Stonewall is about five miles," the man replied, point- ing up ahead.
Max gestured to the back of the pickup and said, "We would appreciate a ride.”
"No," the man said simply.
Kyle understood. The man was alone, and they were six strangers.
"I don't know you kids, but I will send Gomer back with the tow truck, though.”
"Thanks," Max said, and the man sped away.
"Well, thank goodness for Gomer," Kyle said, smiling. The others laughed.
"How long do you think, Kyle? For the repairs," Max said.
"Depends on how long it takes to get the parts. A nine- teen sixty-six VW van timing chain…," he said. "The actual repairs I could do myself in maybe a day. The ques- tion is, can we afford to have them all done now? How much cash do we have, anyway?”
"Cash…?" Max said.
"Yeah, I'm assuming that using the ATM is out," Kyle said.
"Uh-oh," Liz said.
Together, everyone started to reach into his or her vari- ous pockets and purses. A moment later they had pooled their resources and Liz had begun counting. "Sixty-eight dollars and forty cents," she said.
"And we'll need gas once we get going," Kyle said.
Michael took a quick inventory of their sour faces. "Don't forget," he said as he reached down to pick up a medium-size rock. Handing the rock to Max, he said, "Powers unleashed, Maxwell. How about whipping up some gold?”
"Gold?" Liz said. "How are you going to sell that with- out attracting attention?”
"A small-town jewelry store or even a pawn shop shouldn't ask too many questions," Michael said. "Besides, getting stuck in this small town with no money will attract attention too.”