I`ve noticed his name in the list of missed calls, paused for a second and continued flipping through the pages in search of the right number. I got a call from the auto dealer a couple of days ago, and today I thought it might be a good idea to get a new car. Exchange my 5-year-old coupe for an improved series under unique conditions, only for the best customers and blah, blah, blah... Then I reacted with restraint, but this morning, getting behind the wheel, I realized that I want a new toy.

Funny, now I’m thinking about my first car. Well, not actually «my». It was the family jalopy of my high school friend William’s parents, and he knew where his father kept the keys, so in the evenings, when the working class was pouring themselves a beer or something stronger, we were sneaking into the old barn in the back yard, rolling out this battered station wagon, and driving it across the fields outside the city... Then it seemed to me, there is no more beautiful car in the world!

I grinned and ran my hand over the steering wheel leather.

He called me two days ago. Bill «Tapeworm» Brennar. He got the nickname because he was interested in various parasites from childhood, looking at anatomy books at school and at dissected animals on the farm where his father worked. He graduated from medical college and, as far as I know, had a bright future in Parasitology, but suddenly returned to his hometown, giving up the chair at Johns Hopkins University. Here the "furure luminary of science" opened a doctor’s office and started a family practice. There were some talks that he’d been kicked out of the University for being unfit, but if I knew bill, I’d say it was something else. However, he always carefully avoided this topic, turning everything into a joke. That’s what he was, my childhood friend.

I missed his call, just as I missed the previous two or three... Not out of spite, just busy. Usually I even wrote him something exculpatory, and he in response flooded me with dirty jokes, gifs with cats, greeting cards for Thanksgiving and our children’s photos. And then he was offended that I didn’t watch it all. Sent me messages: "Сan`t send you. Put it for you in our place. Important". So many years have passed, but Billy is still somewhere out there, in the distant childhood! Now I had my own life, my own affairs, very important, no doubt, to spend time on endless memories of glorious but long-past events.

I leaned back in my seat and prepared to type out the usual response like "hi, sorry, I missed your call, was busy" but I stopped.

I looked ahead through the windshield. It was drizzling outside the open garage door. Low cloud cover foreshadowed heavy precipitation, and visibility in the mountains was completely out of the question. A storm was approaching. My wife had taken the kids to school an hour ago, and it was also time for me to go to work.

I pulled out onto the street and pressed the button on my key FOB, looking in the rearview mirrors as the garage door closed. Rain drops immediately covered all the glass of the car. The wind blew leaves down the street. I slowly moved forward, overcoming speed breaks. I decided to call him. I’ll tell him, that I was busy... didn’t call back..., just a lot of work… The phone quickly dialed his number. Beeps in the audio system came with some wheezing, with quite long pauses. Finally, he picked up the phone.

“Hi, Tapeworm!” I began cheerfully, remembering his school nickname.

There was silence as an answer.

“Bill! Do you hear me? It’s Andrew!..”

“Hi” he said after a pause.

“Are you asleep?” I teased at his slow reaction.

“I.. don`t… know” said he, making a significant stops  between words. It was as if words were hard to come by.

“Well, I see” I said with a grin. “You don’t recognize your friends!”

“Can… you... fly here?” he asked suddenly.

“What?! I’m sorry, msn, I’m busy… But maybe someday?” In fact, it sounded like "I’m not going anywhere."

He didn’t answer.

“I wanted to apologize, my friend, for missing your call two days before.” I continued

But the answer was silence.

“So, let’s keep in touch later, when you`ll take a rest?” I waited for a while, but didn’t get a response. Pressed the end-button on the steering wheel. Shake my head. He is strange, of course!

Usually he never shuts up... A little less than a year ago, when he called me to wish me a happy birthday, we talked for at least half an hour. And then I would catch the stern glances of Helen, who would show me that it was time for me to return to the table with the guests. For now... I even looked at the number, did I call the right person? The conversation lasted less than a minute. It`s weird...

That evening, as my wife and I were having dinner, I remembered the morning’s story.

“Look, I called Brennar today.” I told her.

“Oh, mine…” she suddenly changed her face , “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” I didn’t understand.

“Well, actually,” Helen put down the knife and folk and took my hand, “I know what this means to you.”

I looked at her, trying to guess what she was getting at.

“Vickie called me this afternoon, and I wanted to call you, but I forgot while Joe and Margie were picking you up... oh, mine,” she repeated and shook her head sadly.

"What’s the matter?" I shrugged his shoulders. "What was Vickie talking about?"

“She said, like, rescues found him in the Matanuska shallows, but generally I can`t take it in my mind... He was so funny.”

"Who… was?!" I exclaimed in surprise.

“William.”

“William?” I stared at her didn`t understand what she`s talking about. “Bill Brennar? I’m telling you about him!”

"Me too," Helen finally realized that I was confused, "I know you’re going to fly to the funeral, I don’t mind...”

Funeral? I winced.

"All right, Ellie, sugar, honey, let’s get it straight: who died?”

"Well," she said carefully, "William Brennar."

“When?”

“ I don’t know, a couple of days, I believe. Vickie said…" she began.

“Nonsense!” I exclaimed. "I spoke to him this morning!”

Helen looked at me motionless. Perhaps she was trying to find out if I was healthy and if the news of my friend’s death had affected me too much.

“Listen,” my wife looked at me sympathetically. “I understand it was a hard day. You go get some rest. I’ll clean it up and put the kids to bed.

“Ell! Don’t talk to me like I’m dumb. We just need to lead your Vickie in clear water… She always was…” I twirled a finger at my temple.

“Honey, what’s Vickie got to do with this?” my wife handed me her phone, which screen was filled with messages of condolence and photos of our school friend in black and white. I leafed through it in disbelief. I learned from the notes that Billy “The Tapeworm”, also known as Brennar, had been missing for about a week. Kayakers found him accidently. In general, it was a miracle that they were still rafting at this time, the river is about to become ice this season. It looks like a suicide, but no one knows the details.

"Hell no," I said, looking at Helen. "Maybe I didn’t talk to him in the morning?"

"Maybe," she said.

"But there was his voice!”

"What did you talk about?"

“The fact of the matter is that about anything! It was hardly to name a conversation at all," I thought for a moment. "He asked me to fly in. Maybe someone of his relatives told me about a funeral. All right, I’m sorry I messed you up. Somebody really didn’t seem to be him.”

I got up, kissed my wife on the cheek, thanked her for dinner, and really went to rest. This news somehow knocked me down, deprived me of strength. He called me several times, including a couple of days ago, and I still didn’t answer. Maybe the last time was before... well... I literally imagined that my old friend was standing somewhere in the woods and the wind was ruffling his thinning forelock. He’s trying to call me, but I’m... I’m busy as usual, and then... This is terrible! Nightmare.

I woke up alone in the morning. A while after, I realized that my wife decided not to wake me up and had already taken our children away. I was usually a light sleeper, and I could always hear them running around in the kitchen below, but today I fell into a quagmire without sounds or dreams.

I flipped through the messages. My old acquaintances wrote to me. The funeral was scheduled for tomorrow and several people were insistently asking me when I would arrive. Yes... I Never liked such events, especially after the death of my parents, I tried to avoid them, but now I had to fly. Apart from me, Bill didn’t really have any crony.

The packing was fast, I didn’t plan to stay in Palmer for long time, I took a round-trip one day ticket. The flight was at night, by morning I arrived at the Anchorage intl airport, went from there to the ceremony, and in the evening of the same day I flew back and would have been home by the weekend. It was a good thing that the Christmas madness didn’t start until a couple of weeks later and I was able to get through.

Ellie refused to come with me. Her parents moved to Florida a few years ago, and mine... They died when I was 19. Car accident. I just started сollege, and if it wasn’t for Ellie’s support, who dropped her scholarship and came to Seattle to hold me on, I don’t know what would have happened to me. Her mother has been telling me that ever since. I sold my parents’ house soon after, that money, plus insurance, allowed us to make a down payment on our current home in the Los Angeles suburbs.

Now we had almost nothing to do with our hometown. School friends? Well, we had a lot of mutual friends at school, the same eccentric Vickie, but my wife never got close to my friends, considering them, as if to put it mildly, "rednecks". Billy ‘The Tapeworm” was one of them. So I went alone.

When we landed and I got off the plane, the sun had already come out from behind the mountains and was shining brightly on the chilled runway. It sparkled with millions of bright points. The frosty air was invigorating and pulled me out of the shackles of sleep, even though my entire body was struggling. It was already quite cold in Anchorage, and after the warm weather in California, I wrapped my short leather jacket around me, cursing myself for not even thinking to take a hat. In the end, I bought it at the shop inside the airport next to a stuffed moose I knew from childhood. Now I was wearing a “knity” with a picture of cedar trees reaching up and a fluffy red bubo in the top. Well, it’s not cold anymore. I rented a car and headed toward the majestic snow peaks that towered over the horizon. The highway soon ended and the shaggy forest greeted me as it went next to the road. After a while, the way started to crawl up, winding between the hills.

It was still quite early, and before I reached Palmer, I decided to stop for Breakfast at the restaurant that my parents and I visited every time we went shopping at the Mall. Making a small detour, I got to the very place where I ate all the same as 15 years ago, delicious pancakes and scrambled eggs. I called Ellie and we chatted for a while. My wife said Vickie’s been calling since this morning, asking when I’ll be there. The restless!

I found flowers in the Mall - a big white bouquet of sharp-nosed callas - and went to the town where I spent my childhood.  Palmer met me with sunny weather, but the coldness was moving from the windshield. The thermometer showed only 20 degrees. The city of my childhood seemed empty, I met only a couple of cars, and there were no people walking along the streets at all. However, this is most likely what it seemed after the noisy and crowded areas of Los Angeles with its constant traffic jams and bustle. I turned onto a familiar street and drove past my house, where the new owners’ red pickup truck was now parked. The bushes that my mother loved so much were gone away, there were just a smooth lawn. I pressed on the gas and soon reached my destination.

The ceremony was held, Vickie said, in the same hall where my parents were seen off. I arrived at Mack’s Funeral home (a long red-brick building with a maroon roof and an oversized flag above) and got out of the car. Despite the fact that the farewell was scheduled for noon and would soon begin, I was surprised to see no cars nearby, except for a black hearse with velvet curtains drawn over the windows and a luxury SUV parked nearby. I hesitated outside my car, stretching my legs, until someone called out to me:

“Andrew!”

I turned around and saw Vickie, the same classmate of Helen’s and mine. Once she and my wife were best friends, and now they called each other time to time, but I haven’t seen Victoria for 10 years. Those days she wore a challenging ring in her nostril and dyed her hair purple. Now Vikcie "The Informal" was in a strict, floor-length dress and a dark fur coat. I wouldn’t have recognized her. Without these rings and chains, she became a beautiful young woman. Mourning, oddly enough, was suited her very well.

“Vickie! Hi!” I hugged her, feeling cold.

"I’m glad you`re here," she said, pulling away and looking at me with wide blue eyes.

“Right.” I nodded, not really sure what to say.

"Let’s go inside, it’s pretty cold."

We headed down the concrete path to the door under the sunshade. Next to the entrance were two large white flowerpots with some vegetation. The stalks were frozen in a half-dead state.

We found ourselves in a small corridor with a door leading to the hall. It was ajar and there was a commotion behind it.

"Still preparing.” Vickie said shortly. "Do you want to leave a message?"

I shook my head, and we moved past the memory book counter into the Waiting room. Contrary to my expectation, it wasn’t much warmer here than outside. However, Vickie took off her fur coat, leaving only the dress. I hung my jacket on the rack nearby and shivered as I went through.

The owner of the Home was a marine enthusiast, and all the walls in this room with a fireplace and two beige leather sofas were hung with paintings of seascapes, mostly some gloomy Islands, and glass shelves stored steering wheels and models of sailboats. Directly over the fireplace was stretched a shipboard rope and a sign with an incomprehensible inscription in Cyrillic.

"Are we the first?" I asked, looking around the empty room.

"There won’t be anyone else." Vickie said.

"How is that?"

“That was William’s wish, only you can be present”.

"What nonsense?" I exclaimed  “Such strange kind of wish!”

“He left an order a couple of weeks before his death.”

We sat down on the sofas.

"I think he felt what was going to happen to him. As you probably know, I own a law firm here. So he came to our office and made arrangements for all this procedure. Then I did not attach any importance to this,”

Vicky was silent for a moment, looking at the window and, as I notice, picturesquely wiped away a tear. But then, as if remembering something, she took out a folded envelope from her purse:

“And, by the way, in the event of his death, he asked me to give you this.”

I took the envelope and opened it. There were no identification marks on it, only the name "Andrew" was printed right in the middle.

"Is this the will?"

"No, no," she smiled. "It’s just a letter...”

I tore open the paper and took out a small piece of sheet. It was printed in the same font:

`Forgive me. I think you’ll understand. Try to find what I left you in our place`

- "Forgive me. I think you’ll understand?" Without looking, noticed Vicky. "He left more than twenty letters and asked me to give them to friends and acquaintances after he died. And they all say the same thing.”

"But I have something else," and I handed it to her.

"Hmm, strange," she read the bottom line. "Do you know what does it mean - ’our place’?"

"I have no idea," I said.

"And he didn’t call you or tell you anything?"  Vickie suddenly leaned forward and stared at me, as if I was hiding something. I felt uneasy.

"I have no idea," I repeated, moving to the back of the chair, "Tell me, Vic, why, if Bill ordered that only I should be present at parting...

"I’m a lawyer," she interrupted."I’m just performing his last will. Yes, it is very unusual, but I will make sure that it is observed. In fact, I warned everyone that they should also comply with his request. Although all the guys are confused.

"And what about aunt Jenny?" I couldn’t imagine Billy’s mother not coming to see her only son off. It was all very strange.

"You haven’t been in town for a long time," Vickie sighed, "Aunt Jenny... It’s hard for me to even talk about it. She’s got a progressive disease, and I don’t think she even knows Billy’s gone.

"But Sandy?" I thought of my friend’s younger sister.

A shadow of displeasure crossed Vickie’s beautiful face:

"Sandy is sitting with mom and can’t leave her, I tell you, Mrs. Brenner is in a very bad way."

To change the subject, she began to tell me about an incident that had stirred up a small town.

So Bill worked as a family doctor in the county, kept a office near the Fair, and had no wife or children, so when he disappeared without explanation, it was not immediately missed. People thought he might have gone somewhere for a vacantion...

A week later, he was found by tourists on a shoal fifteen kilometers up the river. Bill was wearing only a t-shirt and light trousers and this was at the beginning of winter, when the temperature at night falls deep into the twenties... Medical examiners determined that death was caused by hypothermia. He was sober, not beaten, not strangled. He simply froze, and, judging by the received letters, on his own will. His car was later found at the post office in Sutton Alpine. Rafters, fishermen, and visitors to the national Park often leave their vehicles there, so the absence of the owner was also not given much importance. It looks like he planned and executed everything himself...

"Where’s his phone?" I asked suddenly. "Who has it now?"

She thought for a moment.  

"Cellphone? I can clarify. Why do you need it?"

"Someone picked up it. I think it’s a relative. He just asked me to fly here."

"But Billy doesn’t have any relatives other than aunt Jenny and Sandy."

"Well, nevermind. It doesn’t matter. I just thought you might know."

"No," she said, shaking her head."Ok, now it`s time"

I turned around. The director was standing in the doorway. He was a fair-haired man I hadn’t seen before, but he looked like a hell of a lot like the owner of the Bureau - Mack. I didn’t even know the old undertaker had a son.

"Good afternoon, Andrew," the director said, " Please come with me to the parlor 1."

I got up from the sofa. Vickie remained seated:

- Go alone. This is his will.

I went into the hall, where chairs were arranged, and against the opposite wall, on a podium covered with red cloth, stood a beautiful coffin made of dark polished wood. It was decorated with floral arrangements on top. And at the head of the bed was a model of a sailboat with white sails:

"Family traditions?" I chuckled, placing my bouquet next to it.

"Excuse me?" the director said.

- Yes... it’s just that when my parents were buried, your father also put a sailboat at the head of the coffin. He said it was a symbol of the soul.

The Director’s eyes warmed:

"I’m really sorry about your parents, Andrew. But believe me, they are happy now, they are there," he made a semicircle with his hand. "Floating above the waves."  

"Yes, Yes, I remember. That’s what your father exactly said, and by the way, where is he?"

- He... He`s dead. The guy’s face changed, he fidgeted, hiding his eyes, and moved to the door.

"I’m sorry too," I said.

"It’s all right," the director paused in the doorway. "You can spend as much time here as you need. After that we will move Mr.Brenner to the cremation, and you will be able to pick up the ashes tomorrow."

"Cremation?" I was surprised.

Mack’s son nodded to me and closed the doors from the parlor.

I was left alone and sat down on the next chair. There was a mournful melody, and I couldn’t help thinking that something was wrong. Billy’s death, his "last will", the behavior of his relatives. Ok, aunt Jenny, if she’s really sick, but Sandy, who adored her older brother?! Didn`t come to say goodbye?! And this cremation... when Billy always insisted that he bequeathed his body to science after death.

No, there was something wrong . I took out my phone, hesitated, and dialed his number. Then the incredible happened. I suddenly distinctly heard a call, and the call melody sounded very close. From behind the doors? From behind the wall? No! The sound came from the coffin! And at the same moment, it stopped, the phone was picked up at the other end. I listened in horror to the silence. The seconds stretched like nougat.

"Bill?" I said at last in a half-whisper, covering my mouth with my hand so that no one could hear me through the door.

"Yes!" A familiar voice answered.

I almost fell off my chair. The walls seemed to close in on me, squeezing the space. There were only a few steps between me and the coffin. My heart fluttered in my chest. I don’t know how I found the strength, but I got up and went to the podium.

"Billy, are you here?"

There was an ominous silence.

"I... don’t... know. Andrew, help me. Find what I left for you in our place!"

Holy shit! He was alive! With a sharp movement, I swept the flowers off the lid and grabbed it.

Again and again I tried to pick up the tightly closed lid with my nails, repeating:

"Now, Bill, now, my friend..."  The

door to the hall opened and the director and his assistant, a strong black guy with an athletic fit, came in, followed by Vickie.

"C`mon! Faster!" - I cried out. "He’s alive!"

"Sir, wait!"  Mack’s son rushed to me.

"Andrew!" Vickie exclaimed in horror, noticing that I was trying to open the coffin.

She tried to stop me, but I pushed her hands away. They were cold as snow. However, I did not attach any importance to this:

"Open it, now!"

"But, Mr. Andrew," the director tried to reason with me. "We didn’t prepare him..."

- К чему!? - кипел я, - Он жив, слышите, жив!

"Prepare for what!?" I was shocked, "He’s alive, you hear me, alive!"

Mack`s son and his assistant stepped back, looking at Vickie hesitantly. And she suddenly said in a calm voice:

"Ok. Unlock it!"

The black guy hurriedly reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys, he fingered them, looking at Vickie warily, until he found the right one. The lock clicked and I opened the lid.

Damn it! Just the body of my friend with a bluish face was inside in some kind of hoodie. A sweet, stinking smell filled my nostrils. Mr.Brenner was undoubtedly dead.

"OMG!" - Vickie turned around.

I was shocked.

"But... he just answered me," I stepped back.

"Let`s close it?"  the director looked at Vickie.

She turned back and nodded curtly. The coffin slammed shut.

"Mr. Andrew," Mac’s son said to me, "I understand this is a heavy blow..."

"No," I shook my head, not understanding how it could have happened. "It just seemed to me... Excuse me..."

"Let`s go!" Vickie pushed me toward the door, and we left the room, leaving the Funeral Home staff next to the coffin.

"Andrew, please calm down. Here, drink some water," she handed me the bottle, taking it from the desk.

"Thank you! Sorry about that... wait!" I stopped suddenly.  

I lifted mine phone and looked at the screen. Our conversation with the unknown interlocutor was over.

"What’s wrong?"  Vickie asked.

"I need to get back."

"No, Andrew! You’ve already done enough," she said sternly, putting her icy hand on my wrist again.

"All right," I answered. "But could you check it out? The phone was ringing in the coffin, and then I was talking to him..."

 "With whom?"

"Remember what I told you about Billy’s relative answering my phone? So, then and now it seemed to me that I was talking to Bill!"

"Really? What did he say to you?" she raised her eyebrow.

"He asked me to find something again... That’s what he wrote in the letter." I suddenly thought that I was talking some nonsense. "Okay, it doesn’t matter. It’s just my nerves."

"Andrew. I know what you mean. If you think you should help bill...

"No, no," I said, waving my hand. "That’s ridiculous enough. Just tell them to check the phone."  

"All right, I’ll tell them," she nodded, then added sympathetically. "You need some air. Wait for me. I’ll make arrangements and we’ll go."

She went back to the parlor where the director and his assistant were on the floor picking up fallen flowers, then she said a few words to guys in a low voice, and soon returned, taking a coat from the rack.

- They’ll look for a phone, come on.

I picked up my jacket, pulling my "cedar" hat out of the sleeve, and we went outside. After lunch, the weather is changed, the sky began to frown, but it became noticeably warmer.

"It’s going to snow," Vickie said, looking toward the mountains, and then turned to me. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"What he asked you to find?"

"Ah... I’ve already forgotten. I don’t know. I think nothing, anyway."

"What could it be?" Insisted she.

"Knowing Billy, it might be figurative: ’try to find what I left for you’… Well, just like ’live and let die’!"

"No!" suddenly she exclaimed, and added with uncovered exasperation."Knowing William, I can tell that he didn’t do anything for nothing.Think about what he might have left you, and most importantly, where? Maybe he sent something to you or mentioned something. This is very important!"

"Vickie," I looked at her. "Are you serious now?"

She stared at me, and there was no doubt in her face.

"I see you’re not only a lawyer, you’re also a Sheriff." I teased her.

But she didn’t even give a smile back.

"Look, Andrew," she said icily, " If I’m asking, it means... That is... Nevermind. Clear. Ok, go to the airport, there will be a storm soon.

And without saying goodbye, she walked past me and opened the door of her red SUV.

I called to her: "Vic!"

But she already sat in the car. I went to the driver’s door. The engine roared. She didn’t look at me. I tapped my fingers on the glass. It went down. Vickie turned to me and said impassively:

"Go away, Andrew, right now. Before I change my mind."

"What!?"

But she didn’t listen to me her car went back and drove away. I stood in the empty parking place in disbelief, feeling uncomfortable alone in this city were I was completely alien right now.I looked at my watch. It was a quarter past one, but there was still quiet around. More than strange. In the middle of a weekday.

I made a step to my car, but changed my mind and walked quickly back to the Funeral Home’s entrance. I pulled the door handle. To my surprise, it was locked. It was dark inside, as if everyone had left the building and retreated in those few minutes. I turned down the corner, went to the window and clung to it. There was no mistake, it was the parlor 1. The coffin was still placed on the catwalk, but the lid was open! The flowers were scattered on the floor. At that moment, the curtain on the window closed, as if someone had moved it from the inside.

"Are you kidding me?"  I shouted, and slammed my fist into the glass.

I walked quickly back to the main door and started banging on it until finally Mack’s son appeared behind it, his face contorted with horror. I don’t know what scared him so much, but as soon as he opened the door and I went inside, he jumped away from me and hesitated a little way off

"Are you... alone?" He asked breathlessly, looking behind me.

"Yes," I said shortly

"And Mistress has gone?"

"Who? Vickie?" I didn’t understand him.

A black assistant came out of the parlor. They`d shortly looked to each other.

"Did Mistress order you to return?" Undertaker was alarmed.

"What the hell kind of mistress?" said I with anger "No one ordered me to do anything!"

"And what did she say?" the assistant suddenly boomed in a low voice, taking a cautious step toward me.

Mack’s son had also recovered from the initial shock, and he straightened his shoulders, regaining his posture and dignity. I suddenly felt that in this dim hall I was alone against two men. And they kept now a hidden threat. Glances, movements, positions. It was as if they were ready to pounce on me at the same moment.

"So," I took a deep breath, trying to hide my excitement. "Miss Vickie told me to go to the airport, but…"

"Are you sure, Andrew?" black athlete interrupted me. "She didn’t tell you to come back to us, but she told you to go to the airport?"

His voice was suspiciously familiar to me. But I couldn’t figure out how. I couldn’t have known this guy, I would have remembered.

"Call her," Mack’s son said shortly.

"What if she really told him to go to the airport and you opened the door for him, you stupid bastard?"

"No more stupid than you, Glenn! Why the fuck did you put his phone in the coffin?!

"Glenn?!" A hunch shot through me. That’s whose voice it reminded me of.

This guy was an exact replica of Palmer Sheriff Glenn Fowles, ten or fifteen years younger. But Fowles had no children, that`s why they divorced his wife. In those years, the whole town was talking about it, when a year later the new husband knocked her up and she gave birth to twins soon. How could the Sheriff have a son? Just like Mack…

"Listen, Mr. Andrew," Glenn said. "You’re very lucky she let you go."

"Excuse me?"

"Andy, son," Director suddenly said familiarly, though he looked younger than me, "Get in the car and drive to the airport. And we won’t say anything to Mist… Vickie. Deal?"

"We`ll keep the silence if she asks," the new-appeared Sheriff’s son confirmed.

"Ok guys. I’ll leave. But... could you give me Billy’s phone please? Since it happened to be in the coffin.

"You’ve got too much already," Glenn said.

"Too much?" I shook my head.

"Isn’t life enough for you?" the Sheriff’s son grinned unkindly.

"She let you go," the young undertaker added, "If you’re not lying.But if you did, believe me, it will be the biggest mistake of your short life. So jump in the car and ... God forbid you to stay in Palmer! You have ten seconds while I dial the Mistress` number."

I went outside and walked quickly to my car. Here I turned and looked to the Funeral Home. Two men were standing behind the glass door. Mack’s son was on the phone, and his counterpart was staring after me. I stopped, holding that gaze. Then the Director finished speaking and whispered something to his partner. The Sheriff’s son smiled wryly, raised one hand, flexing fingers only, waved to me good-bye. Then guys both stepped back from the door and disappeared into the hall.

I sat down the seat and started the engine, heating my cold hands. The clock showed one and a half. In the past fifteen minutes, the gray haze had deepened over the town. If I didn’t want to get stuck somewhere along the way, I really should have hurried. The flight left at nine PM. I were driving through the empty streets of Palmer, stopping at traffic lights and wondering where everyone had gone. However, against of what happened in Mack`s Bureau, it only added to my unease.To cool down, I dialed Helen.

"Hi!" My wife’s sunny voice echoed. It seemed to come from another world.

"Hi!"

"How are you? Holding up?"

"Oh... don’t ask. When I come home I tell you. It’s a really good thing we left here.

"Is there so bad?" my wife chuckled, thinking I was joking, but then added, knowing why I was here, "I mean, I’m sorry, of course..."

"It’s all right."

"Well, tell me, whom did you see already? Joanna? Susie? I haven’t seen them in ages."

- You know, everything is very strange here, there was no one at all. Just me.

"Just you alone?" Helen asked.

"Well, there was Vickie, too… Tell me, have you noticed that Vickie has changed?

"What do you mean?" My wife was surprised. "We all grow up."

"No, I mean," I said not very confidently. "It’s not just that she doesn’t have rings in her nostrils and that stupid purple hair… It looks like she had changed completely."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, she looks like she’s preparing for the Miss Alaska pageant."

"What pageant?" Did not understand Helen.

"It`s not important. She’s become so... beautiful! But it doesn`t even matter!..

"Oh,’it doesn’t matter’? Look, darling, you can’t be left alone at all! My mother told me that all men are the same!" Wife continued in a joking tone. "Ok, in a short way, if you’re going to hit on her there, remember, she’s my best friend, she’ll tell me everything. So come on, you have very few time before departure, try to take this impregnable fortress!"

I smiled.

"Honey, what kind of Vickie can compare to you?"

"That’s it," my wife cautiously reminded me, " If you’ve finished there, go home to the children, understand?"

"Got it, got it, miss you!"

We ended the conversation, and I sat looking at the red lights of the traffic light over the road. I felt bad. And from the fact that I didn’t really say goodbye to my friend, and from the fact that I behaved like a coward, threw a tantrum at the coffin. And all in vain! If I started, I had to finish the job - find out who was answering my calls, why did they made it up? Wished me to believe in the supernatural? What for?

A thought struck me at the moment. Helen’s right! I didn’t meet anyone. All the time I was in the town, my former classmates, except for Vickie, did not show up themselves. They all had written to me again and again immediately after the news of William Brennan’s death to find out if I was coming or not. But now, suddenly, they seem to have lost all interest in this case. I flipped through the messages.

"Are you coming?"

"When will you arrive?"

"The ceremony is tomorrow, we`re waiting for you."

The last message was from Kyle. In school  time, he showed good results in swimming. He was even got the invitation to the state team. But this good-natured fellow decided to stay in the city to help his father in the store.

I gave him a call. Beeps were on, but no one answered. I remembered exactly where was his family store. I turned the steering wheel to the right, and soon after my car rolled up to the small shop, near which a van with the same logo as on the facade was parked. I went to the door and pushed it. But it was locked. Lunch? I glanced at the sign:

’From 9 am to 9 pm.

We are open all year round’

I knocked, but there was no answer. Back in the car, I dialed a couple more people I knew. But the result was the same. No one answered the phone. A wave of indignation began to rise inside me. Didn’t the "mistress" let them talk too?!

There was still enough time to find out something. And i moved forward confidently. A fine snow began to fall, swirling behind the windows. Some more time passed, when I reached my destination. It was Billy’s parents’ house, where, as Vickie said, Aunt Jenny were laying down in illness. But after all that had happened I didn’t believe it.

This time I decided to be more careful not to break through the front door, which, like everything else in this town, was probably closed at the peak of a weekday. I parked the car in an obscure spot on a nearby street and walked through a small woodland area to a dead end where several monotonous one-story houses with long garages were located. The snow was getting heavier, and I had to hurry. I reached the u-turn at the end of the cul-de-SAC and saw a gray oblong cottage. I made a small detour around the back of the building and cautiously approached the rear entrance.The Brennars never had a dog but over the years things could have changed.

I pressed the handle carefully and realized that this door was locked, too. However, we were friends because we knew each other’s secrets. I leaned down the foundation and pushed the loose board off, just as Billy had done before. The key was still there. We made this duplicate in high school and only we two knew about its existence, as well as about this cache. Then my hand came across another paper bag. I put it out.

"Andrew" was written on it by William’s hand.

Damn! "Our place!" That’s what Vickie was trying to get from me. Bill left me "something" right here. I`ve stood up and looked around. Silence. Leaned the door, I carefully tore open the envelope. Inside was a small insulin syringe with a reddish liquid. Then I took out a piece of paper.

"Andrew, I hope you’re reading this by yourself. The syringe contains the vaccine. There is no time to describe everything, but it is very important you to keep and to deliver it to Gabriel Velasquez, a Professor at Hopkins University, Baltimore. Find it. He is the only one of my former acquaintances who`d taken my e-mails seriously.

In short, it’s a parasite. The nature of the transfer is not completely clear, but the result is always the same. It mobilizes the resources of our body, changes thermoregulation, slows down the metabolism. Further the body reaches its ideal condition in about a month. Children and old people change longer. Most importantly, this is a completely different system of social management. Total submission to the leader. Almost complete absence of emotions. But the vaccine makes our body unfit for its existence...

Oh, If I had just a little more time! Unfortunately, I don’t even know if I’ll see you again. I’d love to talk to you, remembering the old days and drinking a couple of beers!

My friend, if you have any chance, leave immediately. Don’t worry about my mother. I hope she’s still alive. I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop it by myself.

Sincerely yours Bill "The Tapeworm"

I took a deep breath, put the paper back in the envelope, and returned it to "our place". I put the syringe in my jacket pocket. All this story was so far-fetched that, if I hadn’t seen the new residents of Palmer for myself, I would never have believed it. These strange people with cold skin, all of them - former teachers, bakers, fishermen, lawers - now have turned into some unknown tribe led by their ice queen... Of course, Mr. Fowles couldn’t have had children, and obviously I’d seen the sheriff himself. Mack? The Old Mack... What did he say about himself when I asked where my father was?

"Hi`s dead"

All of them are dead, but reborn, and occupied the entire town. I don’t think it’s going to stop in the Palmer borders. I should have left, just like Billy suggested. But... Mrs. Brenner. "I hope she’s still alive." Do you think, my friend, that after I have lost you, I will leave your family? I had to save aunt Jenny and Sandy!

I crossed myself, just in case, and carefully inserted the key in the lock. It clicked faintly – first his father and then the Tapeworm himself always keep the locks and hinges oiled. The door opened noiselessly and let me in. There was completely dark in the house, but a TV was talking softly in the distance. I flashed my phone light and was horrified to see all the things in the hallway thrown off the shelves, boxes overturned. The place was a mess, and I`ve got now what they were looking for. I was about to leave, thinking I was late, when I heard a woman’s voice, obviously Sandy asking her mother something, and aunt Jenny answering from the up-floor. It was her intonation. Sandy was a child when I left Palmer, and she might not recognize me now. So I decided to make my way up. I went carefully up the stairs and went to Billy’s parents ’ room.

The door was ajar and I looked inside. Mrs. Brennan were laying on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. I was just watching at her for a while, didn`t understand how to make myself known. If she was mad, she might have screamed, startling not only her daughter, but her neighbors as well. However, everything was resolved much faster.

"Don’t hide there," the woman said in a clear voice. "Would you like to check one more time? Well, the others have already searched everything here.

I stepped out and went into the room:

- Aunt Jenny…

"My God!" She sat up in bed and immediately put the hand over her mouth to keep from crying out.

"Do you remember me?" I moved a little closer so that she could see me in the dim light.

"My God," she repeated. "Andrew? Is`t truly you?

She rose and clung to me.

"You’re warm..." she whispered, " Warm…

"You, too," I told her, confused.

She pressed a finger to my lips and paused, listening:

"Speak in a wisper."

Then she went quickly to the door of the room and looked out into the corridor. She stood there for a while, waiting, then closed the door and came back to me.

"Who’s there?" I asked her softly."Sandy?"

But instead of answering, she nodded and suddenly began to sob silently.

"Aunt Jenny, please calm down. It’s going to be all right, " I muttered, knowing that nothing good would happen. It’s only now that I realize what really happened. With my mother’s tears, a black bitterness rose up above us, blotting out the dim light from the window, turning it into a poisonous gloom.

"I’m sorry, I thought you`re the one of them," she said, calming down a little, and added excitedly. "Did anyone see you?"

"No, I left my car at Northstar circle, walked here, and then went through the back entrance. So no one saw me, not even Sandy.

"I’m so glad you came, Andrew," she said, taking my hand and squeezing it. "But you need to leave now, because they’ll notice."

"Look, I won`t leave without you," I reassured her. "I read William’s letter. And he left me this."

I took the syringe out of my pocket and showed it to Mrs. Brennar. She nodded

"I didn’t believe my son, I thought he was making it up... and the woman began to sob again.

"Aunt Jenny, I’m sorry. I was at the funeral today."

"Have you seen my boy?" she looked at me.

"Well... of course," I glanced away," I’m sorry.They were going to cremate him"

"Who are "they"?" she wiped her eyes.

"Vickie was there, and these two… Mack and Glenn. I took them for sons at first."

She looked at me with horrified eyes:

"Vickie? She let you go?!"

"Indeed. Look, it’s funny, but these two also asked me that... They called her "mistress"!

"Because she is."

And Mrs. Brennan began to tell about what had happened in my hometown. It all started about a year ago. Victoria Skinner, like many residents of the surrounding area, was passionate about kayaking. In addition to working in her father’s law office, whenever she had a moment to spare, she climbed glaciers and rafted down rough rivers. Sometimes she did it alone. Local newspapers even wrote about her. Billy carefully collected the clippings. He was probably in love with her, though he never admitted it.

Once there was a tragedy. Vikcie was going to take her kayak to conquer one of the most dangerous creeks in Alaska – Tikel. And, knowing that she would be dissuaded, she went there without telling anyone.

She was found only a few days later, when the body was carried to the confluence at Copper river. No boat, no oars. A human could not survive in such a stream. And she was dead, by the way the couple of senior rafters - husband and wife - who found her there thought so. They called a helicopter, but when it reached the place of the call, there was only an abandoned camp. Neither those nice pensioners, nor Victoria.

Three people appeared in Palmer soon: Vickie and a middle-aged couple. The town was incredibly happy to have miss Skinner back. She had been missing and had been wanted for two weeks. But neither she nor her new friends said a word about what had happened. No one bothered to check where she had been all this time, or where these strange new acquaintances of hers had come from.

The couple rented a house on the outskirts of the city and practically did not go out on the street. However, Vickie continued her normal life. She went to the office, practiced law, but she completely changed her style - her hair had grown long quickly, she began to dress well with taste, and overnight she turned into a stunning beauty.

However, soon the city was shaken by a series of strange events. It was as if an unknown epidemic had begun. Someone disappeared without a trace, someone lost loved ones, sometimes whole families went to quarantine. By then, Palmer was in panic. People wanted to understand why the authorities are not doing this, many were going to leave, some tried to protest, but soon these emotions came down. It began to get the impression that this is the way it should be, that everyone is satisfied with everything.

That was so. There were new citizen in Palmer now. Beautiful, fit, young boys and girls. It is not clear where they came from, but they settled in the town like owners. They have established new rules and regulations. The children’s laughter disappeared, and it became quiet and fade. Officially, in order to save the budget, the authorities stopped lighting the streets in the evenings, leaving only the lights of the highway. Cars moved with their lights off, and the houses were dark. This was because the new creatures didn’t need light. They endured it, but they didn’t like it, that’s a fact.

At the very beginning, William Brennan was one of the first who realized that something strange is happening, but everyone just laughed at his bizarre assumptions. However, he compared notes about the discovery of the girl’s body on Copper river and the loss of senior rafters. He was able to restore the description of the girl that the helicopter pilot was given by pensioners when they called transport. It was obviously Vicky’s. Bill found photos of the missing couple and unmistakably recognized them as Vickie’s friends who had come to town, only now they were... young, like all the new citizens of Palmer!

"Somehow my son managed to find a remedy," Mrs. Brennan paused for a moment and hearkened". So, he called it a vaccine. About a month ago, he came to me and asked for one thing - to allow me to inject the drug. I agreed. That moment they had already taken Sandy, my little girl… She didn’t do them any harm, my baby…

I put my arm around aunt Jenny, knowing how hard it was for her.

"They don’t touch you because you’re vaccinated?"

- Yes. When they came for me… I was cooking dinner. I think it was Greg, the neighbor, who appeared at the door. I didn’t recognize him right away, `cause he was young, thirty years off. And when this creature came through the door and came toward me, I felt something terrible coming at me. It was as if an ice darkness was covering me, and I almost fainted, but when I woke up, I saw him writhing on the floor. His nose, mouth, and ears were foaming, and he was arching as if a hundred snakes were writhing inside. Barely half a minute passed before he expired. The others came running for the screams. Those who were around the area. They crowded into my kitchen and looked at me like I was a Witch. But they didn’t dare touch me. Cowardly beasts! As soon as I took a step toward them, they jumped out with jelling. And this Greg just decayed in front of me very soon.

"Did the vaccine kill him?"

She took the syringe from me and turned it over in her hands.

"I think so. I called Billy and told him what happened. He promised to come, but... he was never back. I know they tortured him. But, having achieved nothing, they threw it into the river. They wanted to ask me, but I didn`t say a word. That what Bill created is killing them. And that’s what they are looking for.

- "So," I said. "Come with me, Mrs. Brenner. The car isn’t so far, let`s go right now!"

She didn’t have time to answer. In our half-whisper minutes, we were so used to silence that the call on my phone sounded like a tocsin! It was an unfamiliar number. I clumsily tried to drop the call, but it was too late. Aunt Jenny hid the shrynle behind her back in fright, and I had just turned around when we heard rapid footsteps and the door to the room has opened. In the poor light of the late afternoon, I saw an incredibly beautiful girl with delicate features and neatly coiffed hair standing in the doorway. She was wearing a dark suit with a provocative decolletage.

"Who is it?" She asked, pointing at me.

"Sandy, baby," Mrs. Brenner lisped.

"Sandy?" – I was totally surprised. As far as I could remember, the teen-girl had half her face disfigured after being scalded with boiling water in her childhood. Right now, I was looking at a damned Beauty Queen! Another Miss Alaska, not less!

Meanwhile, she was getting closer. I didn’t even notice that she have been next to me. The light faded around. It was as if I was falling into a dark haze. At that moment, I felt a prick near my shoulder blade by the side where aunt Jenny was and her scream:

- No! He’s also vaccinated!!!

Then I`ve lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I couldn’t figure out where I was or what had preceded it. At first, I didn’t even feel my body. When I tried to move my hand, I realized that my limbs were numb and I couldn`t feel them. Finally, I realized that I was tied up and sitting on a chair in a cold, dark place. It was probably a basement or hangar. My every movement and groan echoed in the distant walls. My memory was beginning to return. Aunt Jenny’s scream. The impending shroud. That`s all. So I’m a prisoner now. Peering into the gloom in front of me, I saw in the distance the blur outlines of tall, long canvases, from which a vague glow emanated. The canvases were high up, so my guess about the basement was probably wrong.

And then I heard footsteps. The rolling sound of hi-heels on the floor came closer. Their owner stopped in front of me several feet away, as it seemed to me. I could even see a silhouette in front of me.

- Welcome, Andrew! - I recognized Vicki’s voice, - Turn on the light, let our guest make sure that he`s in safity.

A glow appeared from somewhere under the ceiling, and soon the shape emerged from the darkness. It was a Church. I was sitting on a chair at the altar, and Vickie was standing in front of me on the steps in a long red dress, and behind her the people of the town were motionless as mannequins. There were at least a hundred of them, the hall was full. The faces of the crowd showed no emotion, but I recognized my school friends and those who had once been our neighbors. But there were also people I didn’t know. What they had in common was that they were all young. Everyone I saw seemed to be a model of perfection. Men are strong and masculine, women are incredibly attractive. This is a picture of an ideal world for the Nazis. Superior race.

"Dear Andrew," Vickie said, " as you remember, I told you to go to the airport... But you chose a different way. However, this is so predictable.

She came up the steps to me and turned toward the hall.

"Citizens of Palmer, I call you to witness that this will be a fair trial of a man who violated the rules of our town!

There was complete silence. Not any murmurs of approval. However, this was not indifference. They listened very carefully, even, I would say, with bated breath.

"Fair trial?" I chuckled. "Untie me first, Vickie."

"Unfortunately," she half turned to me, " that’s not possible. These are the rules.

"And who set these rules?" You did it for your puppets? So, you can stick these rules in you asshole. I don’t obey them!

"Rudeness and impotent malice," she shrugged, " please notice this, citizens of Palmer. Warmbloodies wouldn`t change. They make the same mistakes.

Her imperious tone and manners just irritated me. Despite the deadly danger, I realized that my only defense was an attack. If I’m alive and they didn’t take me, then I was vaccinated by aunt Jenny. Well, I continued to be rude to her:

- Listen, about the mistakes... If you hadn’t come all alone on Tickel and dragged this infection out of there, the world would have been the same!

"The same world?" What was it like, Andrew? Envy, betrayal, resentment, and frustration... Everyone in this hall will tell you with relief that they were glad to get rid of the past. Look, we are young, beautiful. We are what we always wanted to be. Each of us is now the perfect self. There will be only beauty and order in our ideal new world that we will build on this planet!"

"Just planet?" I asked "What’s the limit?" I thought I was dealing with the Empress of the Universe, but here is just some third-rated planet bitch...

"Incorrigible!" Vickie spread her hands, addressing the audience the way a wise Professor sometimes does when referring to the worst student in her class. However, the movement of her thin eyebrow showed that my attacks were not in vain. And she continued:

"You’re wrong to think the vaccine makes you inbreacable. Yes, we lost a lot of community members while we were ending with that freak Brennar, but we’re learning, Andrew. We have a lot of time ahead. Unlike you, warmbloodies. And soon we will be able to kill you without much difficulty.

- Come on, risk your health, you stupid hore, - I answered loudly.

Finally, she could not hold it, stood in front of me, took my face in her icy hands and hissed:

"Why are you doing this?" Do you really want to suffer?"

Instead of answering, I twisted around and tried to grab her with my teeth. She screamed and jumped back as if stung.

"Aunt Jenny was right, you`re cowardly beasts!" - I snapped at their plastic faces.

And then the hall buzzed. As if on cue, they rose from their seats and made a low, monotonous sound that was filled with hatred.

"I call you to witness, citizens of Palmer, "Vickie called over the swarm," I understand your frustration with this species of humans, but this instance hasn’t told us everything yet. He knew where the vaccine was, found it, and I really hope he can tell me if there’s any left. Did he give it to someone?!

She raised her hand, the noise abruptly subsided, and she continued in silence, standing a little apart, but speaking to me now:

"But if he doesn’t, charming Helen with lovely John and Margie will join us.

- "You little...! - I cried out, and tried to pull away.

"What’s wrong, Andrew?" performing a concern she asked, - You should know where you with your friend hid the vaccine. He was tough, because he had nothing to lose, but you... You have a weak part."

"Good," I said softly.

"What?"  she took a step toward him.

"Good," I repeated. "Yes. There’s more! And you’ll get all of it. But please don`t touch the children!"

"Oh, you smooth operator!" - She surprised "So you knew everything from the beginning! You deceived me very well. I thought you didn’t know. Even let you go to the airport, and if it wasn’t for those two idiots...

Disdain and disappointment were mixed on her face.

"You mean your friends in the funeral business?" Yes, they helped me a lot. Where are they, anyway? I don’t see their sour faces."

"Order, Andrew," Vickie said, "Those who don’t keep the Order are not worthy of our society."

"Wow!" I exclaimed, imitating her tone. "Did you hear that, citizens of Palmer? You will get the same fate."

"They can hear you perfectly well," the mistress said, much more calmly. "If sometimes one of us breaks it... These are remnants of the past. We will eliminate this. So, Andrew? Will you tell us where the vaccine is?"

"Of course. Just release me."

"I don’t think that’s necessary. We understand perfectly. And we don’t need you exactly to show it, just tell us."

"You won’t find it without me. It has biometric security," I fantasized by the way, And if I don’t confirm the code within twenty-four hours, the vaccine and a detailed story about the "new citizens of Palmer" will be sent to authorities. Do you think I would have flown here without any ensurance? And even though I didn’t believe Billy, I am not the last fool."

Vickie looked at me in surprise. It even seemed to me that I gave too much with the amount of nonsense per unit of time, but no, she`s got it. Underestimated her opponent. Her lower lip and chin quivered, and the wings of her nose swelled, disfiguring her beautiful face with a demonic expression.

"Don`t you know how much I had to spend to make you believe that you were talking to the dead and they were showing you the way?! And all this time you knew everything and played the silly boy?!" She rolled her eyes.

"Don’t you think anyone is more stupid than you, Vickie," I said. "Until I get a firm guarantee that my wife and kids are safe, I won’t tell you a damn thing. As you can see, they are my weakest and strongest part at the same time."

"All right," the mistress of the mannequin colony agreed. "As soon as you hand me all the vaccine samples, you and your family will be safe. I give you my word."

"Ha!" I exclaimed, "Bullshuit! D`you think anyone believes your word?!"

"Of course," she replied calmly. " I don’t need to lie. Ah, Yes... warmbloodies... You are who lies and breaks your promises all the time."

"You’re right, everyone judges for himself. "But would you excuse me, I can’t help it," I shrugged. "Human nature, you know. Therefore, we will agree as follows. I will personally fly home and collect the vaccine from the storage facility. As soon as I give it to you, me and my family can safely go south, somewhere closer to the equator. I see you don’t like the heat at all."

"All right," she said, after a moment’s thought. "Several members of our community will fly with you, and if everything is confirmed, you can safely leave. Or you can stay, though. No one will touch you. What do you say, citizens of Palmer? Is this a fair decision?"

Again, as if on cue, the hall hummed with approval...

I flew to California the next morning. In the row behind me were my new acquaintancies. Former shoemaker Paul, who ran a shop near the post office and was a friend of my parents, and former swimming coach Mr. Swanson, who once had high hopes for my classmate Cole.

And next to me, in a light blouse and short leather skirt, laying her leg on leg, read a glamorous magazine Sandy. Her right arm was bandaged, so her short meeting with the vaccine was not in vain. And every time Stewart came up to us to offer us juice or water, I was catching his enviously glances.

I turned away and looked down through the porthole. There, over the vast expanse of the Pacific ocean, white fluffy clouds hovered, and I thought that there were the souls of those who are no longer with us and who will not see what the planet will become if I do not come up with a new plan.