by Kevin Ryan
Forcing himself to relax, Max lowered his hand and then opened the window on his door.
"Camping out?" Dan said, his face unreadable.
"I hope it's okay," Max said.
Dan glanced inside the van and took in the other five teenagers who were slowly waking up.
He shrugged and said, "There's a motel up the street.”
"We know," Max said, "But…”
Dan waved off the explanation, and then he studied the group. For a moment, something passed over his face. Then he was unreadable again and said, "Kyle, am I going to see you in forty-five minutes?”
"Yes sir," Kyle said.
Then Dan was turning away, heading back to the barn.
Max got out to stretch his legs. As soon as he was on the ground, Dan turned around and, pointing to what looked like a small shed that had been added to the side of the barn, said, "There's a studio with a shower. I'll bring you some towels," Dan said.
"Thank you," Kyle said.
Dan didn't respond. Instead, he simply walked off.
"The girls have to go to work first," Maria said as she grabbed Liz by the hand. Isabel followed. Before they got there, Dan had appeared with a stack of towels, which he handed to Isabel. Then the girls disappeared into the door to the building.
Half an hour later, the girls came out dressed and with their hair wet. Their clothes also looked freshly cleaned.
Max realized that Isabel must have used her powers for that. Well, it's not gold bars, he thought, but at least our pow- ers are good for something.
None of them had so much as a change of clothes. And even if they had the money, buying more would create a storage problem in the van. With six people taking up most of the available space, there wouldn't be much room for clothes or possessions of any kind.
Well, at least their powers would save them from hav- ing to do laundry.
When the guys approached, Liz said, "He left a pot of oatmeal on the hot plate inside. There's plenty.”
Max was surprised. Dan had given a strange teenager a job. Then the shower facilities…Though Dan was gruff, he'd given them the first real help of their trip.
Maybe things were looking up in Stonewall after all. As soon as the thought formed in his mind, Max chided him- self. They couldn't afford to get too comfortable anywhere… not until they had put a lot more distance between them- selves and Roswell.
Liz leaned into him. He kissed her, and she said, "Bye honey, I'm off to work.”
Max smiled. "Be careful. I don't like the look of the missing-person signs.”
Under normal circumstances, Liz would casually brush off one of his warnings. This time she became thoughtful. In fact, the whole group went still. Max knew why. They had all seen the signs, but no one had said anything out loud yet. They had all seen missing signs before, in Roswell and in the larger cities they had visited. But there were too many signs for a town this size. Then there was the air of… what?… tension?… fear? "Okay," Liz said.
Max, Kyle, and Michael watched the girls go, then headed for the room. Stepping inside the door, Max took in the small studio apartment. Well, apartment was a strong term for the place. It was one room with a double bed, an old kitchen chair, two beanbag chairs held together with duct tape, and a tiny sink with a hot plate next to it. On the floor was a low shelf that held some old toys… robots and dinosaurs… and a small television with a coat hanger for an antenna. The walls were covered with rock-and-roll posters that Max recognized from the 1960s. In fact, the room didn't look like it had been used much since then. It was clean, but Max couldn't shake the feeling that he was inside a time capsule.
To the right was an open door that Max could see led to the small bathroom, which had a stall shower.
"You first," Michael said. "You're the working man.”
Kyle disappeared into the bathroom, and Michael sat down heavily on the bed. "What now, Maxwell?" he said.
"We stay here and keep a low profile," Max said.
"But we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of things to do in this town," Michael joked.
"Actually Michael, I think we've seen it all," Max replied.
"I think you're right," Michael said, smiling.
Leaning down, Max tried the television. To his surprise, it hummed when he turned it on. For a moment he smelled something that seemed like burning dust. Then a picture flashed on. It was black and white, which made sense. The set was old and had dials instead of buttons. Getting nothing but static, Max tried every channel on the dial. He found two stations that seemed to work.
"Cable must be out," Michael said dryly.
Max improved the reception by playing with the coat hanger.
"I vote for cartoons," Michael said.
"News," Max said. "I want to see if anyone's looking for us.”
"Waiting for special bulletin telling people to be on the lookout for three alien-human hybrids?" Michael said.
"Something more subtle," Max said.
There was a talk show on one of the channels, and a game show on the other. It might be a while. Then some- thing on the shelf under the television caught his eye.
He picked up the pack of cards and started counting.
"How many?" Michael asked.
"Fifty-two," Max replied.
"Things are finally looking up. Your deal, Max.”
8
When they stepped into the diner, Jimmy was already there and watching the door, as if he had been waiting for them.. By the time they got to the counter, the owner appeared and said, "I wasn't sure you girls were coming, but I'm glad you did. I'm Bell," she said, extending her hand.
Liz shook first. "I'm Liz.”
Maria followed. "I'm Maria.”
"And you really have done this before?" Bell asked.
"Yes," the girls said together.
"Well, at this point, it wouldn't matter much if you hadn't. I really need the help," Bell said.
Liz noticed that Bell was friendlier and more relaxed than yesterday. Maybe the prospect of some help had cheered her up.
"We have to be honest with you," Liz said. "We won't be staying long in Stonewall.”
Liz felt Maria's elbow stick in her ribs, but she did not want to mislead this woman. Creating bad feelings would just raise their profile in town. "We're in town with our friends and we're trying to earn enough money to fix our van," she continued.
"Your van's at Johnny's?" the woman asked.
"And we have a friend who's working there," Liz said. She wasn't really giving anything away. Liz knew that in a small town, keeping secrets was nearly impossible.
Bell nodded. "Okay, thanks for telling me. For as long as you can stay, I'm sure you'll be better than my sister-in-law. She's a better wife to my brother than she is a waitress… and she's a terrible wife.”
Both Liz and Maria smiled at that.
"Come on," Bell said, leading them into the kitchen.
She pointed to a thin, middle-aged man and said, "This is my husband, Sam. Sam, these are the new girls, Liz and Maria.”
"Nice to meet you," Liz said. Sam nodded and went back to cleaning the grill surface.
"Sam doesn't say much," Bell said as they went back outside. "It's the secret of our successful marriage.”
"If Sam needs help, my boyfriend cooks short order," Maria offered.
Bell shook her head and said, "Sam's okay on his own, but thanks. Look girls, if you are going to be short-timing it, why don't we just settle up at the end of each day.”
"Great, thanks," Liz said, glad that she had decided to tell Bell the truth.
"You eat free while you're here," Bell said. "Your friends can eat… how many of them are there?”
"Four more," Liz said.
Bell nodded and said, "They'll get a discount.
"We've got twenty minutes until we open. Why don't you find uniforms and aprons in the back? You can't miss the bathroom. I saw that you met Jimmy yesterday. Let me know if he's bothering you.”
"No, he's fine," Liz said.
Bell nodded. "He's had a tough time. His sister Jessica used to work here." Bell studied them for a moment and added, "She's missing.”
"We saw the sign," Maria said. "In fact, we saw more than one.”
Bell nodded again, "There's been some trouble. You'll notice that people stay off the street. You girls stay together when you go out. Or better yet, have your boyfriends come get you.”
"What do the police say?" Liz asked.
."They don't know anything, and the sheriff's… gone. We don't have a replacement yet. Just be careful," Bell said.
Liz and Maria headed into the back. A few minutes later, they came out in uniforms. Liz found one that fit a bit tightly, but was comfortable enough.
Looking at the clock, she saw that they had about fif- teen minutes before they opened. "Is there any side work to do?" she asked Bell.
Bell smiled. "You have done this before. Yes, why don't you two fill the sugars and marry the ketchups. Then put the clean silverware in the bins and set the tables. I was too beat to do it all last night.”
While Liz was filling sugars, Jimmy approached her and said, "That's my sister's uniform.”
"Oh, I'm sorry. I can find another one," Liz said.
Jimmy shook his head. "That's okay. She doesn't need it right now.”
"I'm sorry about your sister, Jimmy," Liz said.
"Me too," he said. Then he looked surprised and said, "Don't worry about it. I spill stuff all the time.”
"Spill?" Liz said, but Jimmy just shrugged.
When she turned, she swiped the sugar container she had been filling with her hand. It spilled across the counter.
"Jimmy, how did…?" Liz began, but Jimmy had already turned for the kitchen.
How did Jimmy know that 1 was going to spill something? Liz wondered. Further musings were cut short when Bell went to the front door and turned the sign around so that the open side faced front. There were people waiting out- side already.
A moment later they had filtered in and it was time to go to work.
"War," Michael said, tossing down a card.
Max started throwing down cards at the same time In the end, Michael threw down a Jack face up. Max had a five.
Michael took the next two rounds and got rid of his last card, leaving Max with six cards in his hand.
"I don't have to count them, Maxwell. That wasn't even close," Michael said, smiling. "I don't think you are cut out for war.”
"I was King, you were the one with the advanced mili- tary training," Max said, keeping his voice even and his expression neutral.
"I always knew it would pay off someday," Michael said as he shuffled the cards.
"My deal," Michael said when he was finished. But before he could deal out the first card, the door opened and Isabel stepped inside. He could see something was wrong by the look on her face.
Max was on his feet instantly. "What is it?" he asked.
Isabel sighed. "Nothing serious, Max, but it looks like it's so slow today that they don't need a relief Laundromat attendant trainee," she said, sitting on the bed.
Michael shook his head. "Look at us, three of the Royal Four, with incredible alien-powers at our command, and none of us have a useful skill. If it wasn't for Maria, Liz, and Kyle, we'd be in even more trouble than we are now," he said.
"You mean more trouble than being stranded in a noth- ing town with no money and a broken-down van. We wouldn't have even eaten today if it wasn't for the oatmeal we lucked into," Isabel said.
By the time she was done, Isabel's voice was tight. Max decided that he had waited long enough. He had wanted to do it before, but he didn't want to begin in the van in front of all the others.
Now, Michael was here, but Max knew he had a respon- sibility to his sister. "Isabel, do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
She looked at him in surprise for a moment. "I think I said it all. Wait, I left out the part about sleeping in a van last night.”
Max shook his head. "No, not that." He paused, not sure how to begin. Isabel had always had trouble confid- ing in him when they were growing up. It had only gotten harder lately.
"About Jesse," Max said finally. With his peripheral vision, he saw Michael squirm uncomfortably. Isabel gave him a slightly stunned look. For a moment she was silent.
"This wasn't just another breakup. You were married…," Max said.
"I know I was married!" Isabel exploded. "In fact, I still am. It's just that I'm never going to see my husband again.”
She was angry and immediately went red in the face. Well, angry… even if it was with him… was better than what she could be feeling.
"I'm sorry, Isabel. I want to help if I can," Max said. "Maybe if you talked… ”
"That's the problem, Max. You can't help me," Isabel said, her voice tight. "You can't fix this. I left my husband and my last chance at escaping all this back in Roswell.”
Max could see that Isabel was near tears. He hadn't wanted to upset her, and seeing her so vulnerable unsettled him. He had rarely seen her cry, even when they were younger.
"Listen," Michael said, breaking the silence. "What's so great about being normal? We've been trying since we got out of the pods, and it hasn't worked out so well. And, Isabel, Jesse was okay, but he wasn't the one.”
There was dead silence in the room for a long moment. Max found himself holding his breath. Isabel looked shocked, as if Michael had just thrown cold water in her face, or slapped her. Max could see anger, grief, and some- thing else colliding on her face. For a second, Max wasn't sure if she was going to cry or hit Michael… both options looked like an even bet.
Then, as quickly as the storm of emotions came, it seemed to pass. Isabel seemed to deflate in front of them.
She was holding herself together, barely. Max preferred seeing her angry. Then she leveled a cool gaze at Max and said, "No, I don't want to talk about it right now.”
Isabel got up and seemed on the verge of storming out. Then she turned and sat on the floor next to Max. "What are you playing?" she asked.
"Um, war," Michael said, still holding the cards in his hands.
She grabbed the cards from him and said, "Dealers choice.”
As she shuffled the cards, Max took in what had just happened. He still couldn't believe that Michael had spo- ken up; his best friend usually avoided discussion about feelings with the same intensity that he guarded their big secret.
Max was equally surprised by how much sense Michael had made. They had been trying for their whole lives to be normal. It had never worked, and they had all paid a price for the failure.
And Max was even more surprised that Michael had said what he had about Jesse. It was true, Max knew. They had all sensed it, though they had never talked about it. Instead, they had discussed the fact that she was so young, and that they were rushing the wedding. But the truth was that they had all known the simple truth that no one had said out loud until Michael did a minute before.
Jesse was not the one.
Even so, Max had no doubt that Isabel had loved him and that her pain and grief right now were real. Well, maybe she would want to talk about it when a bit more time had passed.
If Michael could talk about feelings… and make sense doing it… anything was possible.
Isabel dealt out the cards. Since he was sitting on her left, he went first. Max looked levelly at Isabel and said, "Seven.”
His sister leveled a steely gaze at him and said, in an even voice, "Go fish, Max.”
Liz laid two plates at the first table in her station, smiled, and immediately headed behind the counter, where the large cutout in the wall led to the kitchen.
She nearly collided with Maria, who got there a moment before she did.
"Where's my omelette and home fries?" Maria called out.
Sam grunted from inside the kitchen but passed a plate out. Maria took it and was off. For all of her complaining about going back to work as a wai
tress, Maria had settled right in at Bell's. Liz found that she had, as well, though both girls were frustrated by the fact that they didn't know the menu and prices cold. After years at the Crashdown, they each could recite the menu forward and backward.
So they spent a frustrating first hour checking the menu before they added up the checks. But they picked it up quickly, and now, as the breakfast rush began to taper off, Liz could make out most checks from memory. And she could see that Maria was doing the same.
Liz was surprised at how much of a rush the breakfast rush had actually been. She wasn't sure the diner would keep even one experienced waitress busy, but they both had been. And in the beginning, Bell had been pitching in as well.
Once the owner had seen that the girls could handle the crowd, she had concentrated on seating people and working the register. Liz was glad. For one thing, it meant that she and Maria would keep all the tips. And while the checks were smaller than she was used to at the Crash- down, the running total she kept in her head told her that her tips were averaging a bit higher in percentage.
The customers were all working people… local farm- workers and factory workers commuting to Pueblo. At home, Liz had learned that working people tipped better. Before, she had thought that it might only be true in Roswell, but Liz saw that it was true in Stonewall as well. Maybe it's true everywhere, Liz thought.
Twenty minutes later, Liz watched the last breakfast customer leave. As soon as the door closed, Bell said, "Congratulations" to both Maria and Liz.
Liz found herself smiling and saw that Maria was doing the same.
"How long did you two say you were going to be in town?" Bell asked.
Liz shrugged. "A week or two," she said. She honestly didn't know how long it would take them to earn enough to get the van fixed and get moving.
"Well, I'll be sorry to see you go," Bell said.
"You'll find someone new by then," Liz said.
Just then, Jimmy was coming out of the kitchen, and Liz saw his face drop. Liz cursed herself. She walked over to Jimmy and said, "I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure she'll be back.”
Jimmy nodded and went back to work.
Then Maria was next to Liz and patting her arm.