m and This Bubble Two

Slow pace and suggestion,

Frustration and patience,

Just a phase.

Three miles east of the wrench.

The tanned man was heading north. No, he was heading west. No, wait, north again. Now back west. Andy and Kathrin were following him at a crawl. Andy had his foot resting on the brake the whole time, turning whenever the tanned man took another road. And yes, he was walking in front of them, but at least he had picked up the pace from his previous slouching march. But the bottom of the mirror continued to scrape alone the asphalt, and since Andy had his and Kathrin’s windows down, that grinding noise was all they heard over the quiet idling of his car.

Kathrin tossed her hands up in the air and let them slap against her legs, “Where is it he wants us to go?”

Andy didn’t answer at first, but then all he did in response was shake his head.

“I mean,” Kathrin continued, “he was jumping over entire neighborhood blocks or something before, right? What’s the deal now?”

Again, Andy didn’t answer at first, but in response this time, he squinted his eyes to a thought. After mulling it over a few seconds, he decided to go ahead a voice it, “Maybe…it’s a timing thing.”

Kathrin looked at him, “What?”

“Maybe…” Andy muttered, still squinting his eyes, “…he’s going as fast as he’s supposed to go.”

“Who is he even supposed to be?” Kathrin scoffed. “If he knows what’s going on, well, he’s shown us that everyone’s asleep, so is he, like, the good guy or something? Wouldn’t he want to hurry and fix things already?”

Andy shrugged, “Maybe he’s on his way to do that very thing.”

Kathrin crossed her arms. “Well he doesn’t seem all that concerned.”

Andy was still mulling over the whole timing aspect, “Maybe…he’s waiting for something.”

“Like what?” Kathrin asked.

Andy shrugged again, “I don’t know. Maybe for something else to take place?”

“I thought everyone else was asleep.” Kathrin said.

“But not that guy with the funny hair.” Andy said.

“Is he the bad guy?” Kathrin asked.

“And that guy was looking for someone else. A guy with facial hair or something.”

Kathrin looked at Andy, “You think this guy is looking for him, too?”

Andy shared a glance with her, then stared ahead. “Maybe.”

“So who is this guy with the facial hair, then?” Kathrin asked.

Andy’s eyes strayed toward the gray clouds, and Kathrin caught the gesture. “So,” she said, gazing skyward as well, “you think some person is responsible for all this.”

“Well, something had to happen.” Andy said.

“But a person?” she asked.

“And we have a guy dragging a mirror who is able to leap entire street blocks.” Andy chuckled.

Kathrin fell silent, seeing his point. “Okay, yeah…I guess we’ve seen our fair share of impossibilities today…or whenever it is. But, I mean…you think…the guy might need a lift?”

Andy’s brow furrowed, and he looked at Kathrin, “Huh?”

She was looking back at him. She shrugged at his expression, “Well, you know, if he’s looking for the guy with the facial hair, maybe he just needs a ride or something.”

“What?” Andy asked. “But, I mean, if he did, wouldn’t he…?”

“Does he even understand our language?” Kathrin asked. “We had to read hand gestures just to figure out he wanted us to go inside that house and see those people sleeping.”

“I don’t know.” Andy said, staring out at the tanned man, “I figure if he wanted to get there faster, he would do just that.”

“You think so?” Kathrin asked.

Andy shrugged.

Kathrin faced forward, and they road in silence. They were heading west now. There was another intersection up ahead, but it would be a minute or so before they reached it. On either side, houses were given unbroken views of the street, and they watched the tanned man and the car stroll on by, waiting, hoping, eager, unable to say a thing. Inside each of them, people slept, ignorant. Helpless.

“What do you think will happen?” Kathrin startled Andy from his thoughts.

He looked at her, “What?”

“With the guy they’re after,” Kathrin said, nodding toward the tanned man, “if he’s after him, too.”

Andy considered her question, then shook his head, “If the guy with the facial hair is responsible, I mean, if time has stopped, well, that’s a big deal.”

“You think time has stopped?” Kathrin asked.

“Nothing’s moving.”

“But we are.”

“Yeah, I wonder why.”

“You think we’re supposed to be awake?” Kathrin asked.

Andy grinned, “Because of this guy here?” he nodded at the tanned man. “You think he chose us or just happened upon us because we were awake?”

“How are we awake?” Kathrin asked.

Andy glanced at her, still grinning, “You’re not an alien, are you?”

Kathrin turned a scoff his way. “Seriously.”

Andy grinned. Kathrin faced forward. “So, if…time has stopped,” she began, “what does that mean for us?”

Andy shrugged, “Maybe we’re the normal ones.”

“You mean ’lucky ones’, right?” Kathrin asked.

“Maybe everyone else was screwed over somehow.” Andy offered.

“Which makes us lucky.” Kathrin said, although Andy caught the sarcasm in her tone.

“Yeah, well,” Andy said, “I don’t know. After everything is fixed, maybe all that will happen is everyone wakes up. We’re just ahead of them.”

“So does that make them right on time, or us ahead of everyone else?” Kathrin asked.

Andy didn’t have an answer. Nor did he get to think about it long. The tanned man stopped. Andy pressed the brake, and they both stared ahead. The tanned man twisted the upper half of his body to the left. The mirror twisted enough in the opposite direction for the tanned man to poke his head out from behind it. He was looking skyward. Both Kathrin and Andy looked up as well. Andy even poked his head out his window to get a better view.

Kathrin was leaning forward, searching the sky, “What is it? What does he see?”

“I don’t see anything.” Andy said, seeing nothing but the unmoving clouds above.

Kathrin glanced at the tanned man in time to see him twisting back to the front, his eyes still trained skyward. “Andy!”

Andy heard the sound then. It was coming from above. The sound of a whistle growing into a roar. They both saw it just as the tanned man was facing forward again, hiding behind his mirror. The object passed over the tanned man from left to right, but they got more sound than visual confirmation.

It passed in a flash, something gray, a darker gray than the sky, and it was continuing on to the north. They could hear its guttural growl fading off into the distance. Andy and Kathrin stared wide-eyed at each other.

“Did you see that?” Andy gasped.

“I saw it.” Kathrin breathed.

“It was flying.” Andy gasped.

“Was it a spaceship?” Kathrin whispered.

They stared at each other a second, and then gazed ahead. The tanned man was twisted around, facing them. He extended his free hand forward and beckoned them. “Volito. Insisto mihi, testis.” Then he turned to the northwest, crouched, and then jumped, clearing the tops of the trees on the right side of the street.

Andy and Kathrin glanced at each other, and then Andy punched the gas. The back tires squalled, and he was hurrying to that intersection. When he swerved to the right, both he and Kathrin saw the tanned man way on down that street. He was hunched forward, but the mirror wasn’t dragging along the asphalt. It was lying horizontal across his back, and the man was running.

“Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” Kathrin squealed, slapping Andy on his arm, and he punched the gas again. The car roared to catch up. Not once did the tanned man turn left or right, bypassing every intersection. Andy disregarded every stop sign. Ahead, Andy saw one of the big roads that ran parallel with the town’s main stretch which was several miles north of their location. But more than that, he saw that the tanned man was still way ahead. He took a chance to glance down at his speedometer, and the needle was already passing up fifty-five.

Okay, so, the tanned man jumped really far this time, but they weren’t catching up to him. He beat them to the big road and made an immediate left, heading west.

“Andy!” Kathrin gasped.

Andy wanted to hurry, but they would have to slow down to make the turn, so he let up on the gas. They blew out onto that big road, regardless, and Andy was spinning the steering wheel to the left. The back end of his car fishtailed, tires barking along the asphalt, and ahead they saw the tanned man still running. The spinning tires finally got traction, and Andy and Kathrin were blazing after the tanned man.

“He’s actually running that fast?” Kathrin gasped.

They were doing forty going on fifty, passing up all the houses and small businesses and getting into the actual commercial area where the road they were on forked up ahead. The left went to the southwest while the right slanted to the northwest. The tanned man headed to the right. Andy followed and was finally catching up to the guy. He lifted his foot off the gas pedal when his car threatened to get within a car’s length of the tanned man. Andy let the car drop back two car lengths and pressed the pedal again, holding a constant speed.

The tanned man kept running, and Andy glanced down at the speedometer. He couldn’t believe he was reading fifty-five miles per hour. They were passing up several fast food restaurants and a strip mall off to the right. There was a bridge ahead where the major highway that ran north and south through their town crossed over. The tanned man took the onramp that would take them north along the highway.

“Can you believe this?” Kathrin gasped.

“Whatever it was got him in a hurry.” Andy breathed.

“The facial haired guy?” Kathrin asked.

They were scanning the sky ahead once they got onto the highway, but whatever that object was, spaceship or jet, they didn’t see it. It was way ahead of them. Sensing an urgency in this fact, the tanned man threw himself into a jump. Andy and Kathrin watched with big eyes as he left them to land half a mile up the highway. When he landed he jumped again, just brushing the tops of the trees lining the right side of a wide curve, disappearing from view on the other side.

Andy punched the gas again.

“You think he’d leave us?” Kathrin asked.

“Or maybe where we’re supposed to be isn’t too far ahead.” Andy said.

“What is north of here?” Kathrin asked. “Nothing special.”

“The interstate.” Andy said. “Before that are the hotels.”

“You think that’s where we’re heading?” Kathrin asked.

“We’re about to find out.” Andy said as they turned the wide curve just in time to spot the tanned man several blocks ahead.

“It’s like someone is beating him to it.” Kathrin said.

“Could be.” Andy said. “Whoever that spaceship thing was.”

“The guy with the funny hair?” Kathrin asked.

“I don’t know.” Andy said.

They passed through the intersection of the highway and the town’s main stretch which had taken them downtown, and kept heading north, already having lost sight of the tanned man.