In the wake of the Paoli dam break, and the collapse of the Sandy Arms hotel, four heads could be seen bobbing in the water amid the wreckage.  

"Log jam coming!" yelled Chris Archer pointing upstream. "Get out of the way!"  

Too late. The logs tumbled and rolled over one another as the stream swept them through the town, some of them deflecting and pinning Harv, Chris, Ray, and Ed against the one wall of the hotel that was still standing.  

"If we work one loose, we can float on it to higher ground!" yelled Chris.  

Harv nodded assent. "Everybody, push," he commanded.  

The four of them braced against the wall and pushed against the logs as the water boiled and swirled around them. Amazingly, the logs seemed to give a little.  

"Again!" yelled Chris as he lunged forward mightily.  

They all strained and groaned until Ray thought she might black out. Suddenly the logs gave way and started moving slowly down stream. Harv gave the log that was pinning them to the wall one last shove with all he had in him. It moved away from him with Chris, Ray, and Ed clinging to it.  

"You're in good hands, Honey," Harv gasped to Ray, as the current sucked them away.  

"Uncle Harvey!" screamed Rayella reaching out to him. A strong hand reached out, grabbed the back of her shirt collar and threw her across the log.  

"Hang on, Ray!" Ed yelled, securing her shirt tail with one free hand. "You can't help him now. We'll catch up with him down stream!"  

"You fellows listen to her, I raised her on this river," Uncle Harv called after them. "She knows it like the back of her hand!"  

The three clung for dear life to the log as it bounced and skipped alongside the others on a wild ride through the town of Cedar Creek As the overflow from the dam joined the swollen currents of the river on the other side, the floodwaters widened and flowed even more fiercely. The log jam thinned out as they were swept down the river.  

"Be careful of those rocks up ahead," Chris said suddenly. "Everyone pull to the left!" Just then a streak of lightening lit up the sky revealing an outcropping of boulders coming up to their right.  

"I swear, the guy can see in the dark," Ed muttered, as the three of them fought the log over to the left.  

Rayella didn't answer him. Then she said, "Hey, you guys, I grew up on this river. There's some level shore line up ahead. If we can work our way over to the left, we might be able to reach dry ground."  

It took the next two miles for the three of them to wrestle the log over to the right, even though Chris seemed extraordinarily strong. And there was no sign of Uncle Harvey.  

"Maybe he was able to grab hold of a building, or a light pole, or something before he got swept out of town," Ed comforted Ray.  

As they came around a curve, the log floated into a calm spot. On the bank forty feet away was about six feet of level ground which rose quickly to a steep rocky cliff. The three of them pushed and paddled the log to the edge of the bank. Chris swung himself up first, then turned around and offered a hand to Ray. Ed helped boost her up, and then Ray and Chris pulled Ed up, and they all collapsed exhausted, face down in the mud.  

"We can't stay here, you guys," said Ed after a while. "The water's still rising. We have to climb higher." He reached wearily into his back pack, which he'd put on when he'd left Uncle Harv's house, and pulled out a rope.  

Just then a flash of lightening illuminated two small ledges about 800 feet above them, that were protected somewhat by overhangs. Ed handed Chris the rope. "You lead," he said.  

"Chris," Ray blurted out suddenly. "Thanks for grabbing me back there when we got separated from Uncle Harvey."  

For a moment, Chris considered her words, with puzzlement written across his face. "We needed you," he said simply.  

An hour later, lightening streaked across the sky revealing three small black figures strung out midway up the side of the cliff, and a fourth figure below some distance below them, but gaining rapidly.  

"Just fifteen more feet," Chris called to the climbers beneath him. A few minutes later, he hoisted himself up on the first ledge with the grace of a cat, and started guiding Ray in. But just as she reached the ledge, Ed yelled, "Watch out!" All of a sudden something bounded past them, and then leapt through the air onto the neighboring ledge. Rayella screamed and slid down the mountain 10 feet before she caught herself.  

"What was that!" she panted.  

"It's a cougar," yelled Chris. The next instance of lightening proved him right. On the ledge above him stood a good-sized mountain lion. The animal gazed down at the three with big yellow eyes, and settled down on the ledge. After a while, it blinked and looked away.  

"It's all right," Chris yelled down. "It won't hurt us. It's just trying to get to high ground like the rest of us."  

The climb finished uneventfully, with Chris easily pulling Rayella up onto the ledge and then the two of them guiding Ed the rest of the way up. It was a fairly comfortable fit. Ray and Ed let their legs dangle over the edge. Chris sat off to the side, cross legged and erect in a lotus position. For a while no one said anything. The rain came down steadily, and flashes of lightening illuminated their faces, the mountain side, and the rushing water below them.  

Ed reached gingerly into his back pack, pulled out a half eaten package of fig Newton's and passed them to the other two, who took them gratefully. Bringing one to her mouth, Rayella thought about Uncle Harvey and started to weep. For a minute, the two men sat there listening to the sniffles. Then Ed put his arm around her as best he could. "It's OK, Ray. Your Uncle Harv is a tough old bird. If anyone can survive this night, he can. Here, eat your fig Newton." Ray stopped weeping and started laughing. Ed wiped the tears from her eyes with his fingers, and then offered his shirt tail. "Want to blow your nose?" Rayella laughed even harder, and Ed started chuckling too. Chris just sat quietly and observed out of the corner of his eye. But his face had just the hint of a smile, and a look of surprise, as if he was seeing something that he found absolutely fascinating. The laughter subsided, and the three silently finished off the package of fig Newton's.  

Then Ray said quietly, "Rachel Burns is dead, isn't she?"  

"Yes," Chris admitted. He swallowed hard, and looked down at the empty package in his lap. Now what was this sensation grabbing at his throat?  

Rayella's eyes teared up at the confirmation. "You were sent to kill me, weren't you?"  

"That is correct," Chris said tersely. "And you left me to drown."  

Ray bit her lips at the near truth of what he said, and squeezed her eyes free of the troublesome tears, which spilled out onto her cheeks. "I was scared," she admitted hotly. "But I went back for you!"  

"Why would the FBI-" Ed asked, dumbfounded. In mid sentence he switched to, "What are you saying -" and then finished with, "Oh, no. Don't tell me this!" as the realization hit him.  

"Discovery of our existence is a threat to our survival," Chris articulated softly, still looking down at the cookie wrapper.  

"Chris is a member of the new species, Ed," said Ray. "He doesn't work for the FBI."  

Ed tossed his brown hair away from his eyes and looked up to the sky. "Just great!" he said. "I have spent the most harrowing eighteen hours of my life, and now we're sitting up on a ledge over a flood in middle of a thunder storm with a serial killer next to us, and a mountain lion one ledge over! Why the HELL didn't you tell me, Ray?"  

"I won't hurt either one of you," Chris said hastily, glancing over at the cougar.  

"Think about it, Ed," Ray said. "When, in the last eighteen hours, have I had time to tell you anything?"  

They all fell silent for a moment. Every so often, the sky lit up, revealing the three of them huddled precariously on a piece of narrow cross bedding probably carved out of an ancient river bank sometime during the Carboniferous period, now 800 feet above a raging river, driving home to them just how thin was the thread they were all clinging to.  

Ed suddenly let out a laugh that was half a sigh. "Well," he said, looking down at the rushing water. "That certainly explains a few things."  

Ray switched subjects abruptly. "If you were sent to kill me, Chris, why didn't you do it? Why didn't you take the CD? What happened out there on the road to Uncle Harv's?"  

Chris didn't answer. He shut his eyes and leaned his head back against the bluff. In his mind's eye he was back in his car speeding towards Rayella's apartment. He knew what he had to do - get the CD, and stop Ray from letting anyone else know what she knew. At the same time he was wrestling with uncomfortable sensations, thoughts, that had been cropping up more and more in recent months. Five seconds before his car came screeching up to the old, converted warehouse, an image flashed into his head. Lynch Peters was climbing through Rayella's window from the fire escape.  

"So, Lynch has escaped from prison," Chris thought. He floored the gas pedal, and screeched up to the curb. As he bounded up the stairs, he got another image. An attractive, matronly lady was walking towards Ray's door. On the other side crouched Lynch, ready to spring.  

In the apartment, Lynch suddenly turned his head and looked back at the street.  

It was Chris Archer telling him to back off. He heard him loud and clear though not a word was spoken.  

As Mrs. Franklin inserted Ray's spare key into the lock, Lynch backed away, slipped the window open, and climbed out onto the fire escape.  

A few seconds later, when Chris arrived, he found the door ajar. Mrs. Franklin was setting down a bowl of cat food for Buddy inside.  

"Oh, my gracious!"  

"Hello, ma'am, I'm sorry to burst in on you," Chris said. "My name's Chris Archer, and I work for the FBI." He flashed his id card. "We need to find Dr. Bridgewaters."  

Mrs. Franklin's eyes opened wide. "She's not here," she said.  

"It's OK, ma'am, we just have some news about a friend of hers. I know she'd really want to hear it. Do you know how we could get in touch with her?" Chris asked.  

"Oh, dear," said Mrs. Franklin, shaking her head. "And she just called a few minutes ago. Said she'd be gone a couple of days."  

"Did she say where, Ma'am?"  

Mrs. Franklin shook her head. "I know she has an Uncle up north she goes to see."  

"Do you know his name?"  

When Chris got back down to his car, he found Lynch Peters sitting in the passenger seat, waiting for him.  

"Get out my lap top, look up Harvey Bennett on the internet," he said as he jumped in the car. "He lives near a little town called Cedar Point."  

Lynch raised an eyebrow at him, and smiled with mocking gray eyes. "OK," he said approvingly. He reached over the back seat and grabbed the wireless machine as Chris pulled away from the curb.  

Then he looked over at Chris. "What's your login and password?"  

A few minutes later, Lynch said, "Got it! It's about 400 hundred miles north of here off highway 101. Looks like a little one horse road leads right to it."  

Chris was already speeding toward the highway. "Look for a back way in," he said. "We'll head her off, before she gets there, if we don't catch up with her on the highway!  

Lynch leaned his head back and laughed. "The hunt is on," he said, savoring the words.  

It was about 8 hours later when they barely made out a blue car about fifty yards ahead of them on highway 101. "It's her," Lynch said with a snap of his fingers. "Stay back, don't let her see you!" A while later, he said, "OK, here's your chance to pass. She's going to pull off to get gas."  

"I'll stay about two miles ahead of her," Chris said. With Lynch along, he had no intrusive thoughts, he realized. "It's just another meal, Chris," he told himself. "Watch for the turn off," he said out loud.  

The rain was coming down in torrents when they reached the turn off to Cedar Point, two hours later. "I figure she's about five minutes behind us," Chris said as they reached the top of a small hill, "Look for a good place to stop."  

"The road's flooded ahead," Lynch said suddenly. Chris floored the accelerator, and the car ploughed through the dip throwing up sheets of water on either side of them. Once up the hill, he pulled the car across the road. "This is the place," he said.  

Both he and Lynch climbed out of the car, just as Ray's car drove into the dip. "I'll go around to the right," Lynch signaled. Chris circled to the left, accordingly. Seconds later, he heard a car door open, and a few minutes after that, Rayella Bridgewaters appeared at the top of the hill, her slender, diminutive figure silhouetted by the head lights of her stranded car. Suddenly Lynch materialized behind her. As he wrapped his fingers around her neck, Chris snapped into motion. "Stop!" he yelled. Reaching Lynch in two bounds, he grabbed his arms and shoved him back. Rayella dropped soundlessly to the ground.  

"What's wrong, man!" Lynch blurted out, looking at him wide-eyed.  

Almost as shocked as Lynch was, Chris stared back for a second. Then he said, "This one's mine, man. I'll finish the job when I'm ready."  

Lynch considered the challenge in Chris's voice for a second, and slowly backed off, keeping his eyes on him the whole time. Chris picked Rayella up out of the water. Her neck wasn't broken. He felt an odd sense of relief as he carried her to the car. Even at dead weight, she felt feather light to him.  

"What are you doing!" Lynch exploded.  

"We need her alive, as bait for her partner," Chris said tersely.  

"That's too dangerous, man!" Lynch argued vehemently.  

Chris wheeled around. "Look, man! If you don't want to come along, there's the road! I'm going into town to see if her boyfriend shows up." Lynch shook his head disgustedly, and got back into the car. Chris deposited Ray in the back seat, then climbed into the driver side, and started the car while Lynch gave him a cold stare.  

A timid touch on his arm brought Chris back to the present.  

"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Rayella asked.  

He looked down into Rayella's violet eyes, wide tender pools of innocence. "I - I keep having these feelings of empathy and sympathy...and pity," he stammered.  

"You mean human feelings?" Rayella said gently. She smiled a little. And felt a strange sense of relief for the first time in days.  

"I didn't kill those two people - or Dr. Burns," Chris said emphatically. He looked around. "I couldn't have survived this without you two!" This night had been full of surprises for him.  

"Nor we without you," Rayella said softly. A cool breeze hit her, and she shivered, suddenly aware of her hair plastered on her forehead, heavy, damp, gritty clothing clinging to her skin, water sloshing around in her shoes. "If we all sat close together, we could keep warm and dry off faster," she suggested.  

Ed moved in close to her. She looked over at Chris and patted the ledge right beside her. "Come on, Chris. You too." She watched him, fascinated, as he cautiously slid over until he barely rested up against her. How tenuous had been the dance that lead them to this moment of fragile truce, she reflected. Had things taken a different turn, she could be lying in an abandoned warehouse on Old Romney Road right now. Or Chris could be trapped under water back at the hotel. Perhaps they'd all be dead, washed away into oblivion by Big Sandy's swollen currents. They all sat silently for a while watching the rain, the lightening and the rushing floodwaters.  

Ed looked shyly over at Chris. "Where did you come from, Chris? How long have you guys been around? Did you come from humans? I mean- how could this have happened so quickly? What are the adaptations of your species?" His dark eyes sparkled with excitement. "God, colleagues of mine would die for an opportunity like this! A front row seat in the theater of Evolution - admission to the birth of a new species!"  

"It takes my breath away," Ray said in awe.  

"I can't tell you those things," Chris answered darkly. Then he added, "I can't remember."  

"You can't remember your childhood?" Ray asked, amazed.  

It bothered him too, more than he cared to admit. Every once in a while a tantalizing splinter of memory would dislodge itself from somewhere safe and float across his mind. He'd grasp at it like a drowning man, but it always somehow stayed maddeningly out of his reach. Closing his eyes now, he brought his hand to his forehead as if summoning something ageless and timeless from within himself. Suddenly he sat up on the ledge rigidly. Another streak of lightening lit up the sky as the words spilled out from his lips.  

"We have to do this, Sylvia! There are so few of us, and there's millions and millions of them out there." This time, he could almost make out the faces, and then the vision was gone.  

Ray and Ed looked at each other.  

"Who said that, Chris?" Ray pressed. "Your father? Is Sylvia your mother?"  

"I don't know!" Chris slumped back against the rock. "It's like pieces of a puzzle that I can't put... I think it has to be that way, so I can do my job for them, and not give away secrets."  

Ed said soberly, "This job you speak of - you mean killing humans?"  

"Yes."  

"Chris, how long have you been doing this 'job'?"  

"I haven't been home since I was fifteen," he answered.  

He seemed very reluctant to elaborate any further. For a while, they all sat lost in their own thoughts. Rachel's Burn's voice kept going through Ray's mind like a broken record. "Two species can't adapt to the same habitat at the same time. One will dominate and drive out the other." Funny thing was, at that moment she didn't know who she felt sorrier for - herself and Ed and their species, or for Chris and his. At least she and Ed had gotten to enjoy their lives, up till now.  

It was too overwhelming. And scary. Ray reached into her mind for something comforting. An old Neil Diamond tune. Song Sung Blue. She started humming it under her breath as she rocked ever so slightly back and forth.  

Ed turned to Chris. "You really don't remember your childhood? I mean - didn't you ever just play ball, or go swimming? Didn't you have brothers or sisters, or a pet, or something?"  

Chris looked off in the distance and smiled a little wistfully, as he listened to Rayella's music.  

"Oh," His eyes suddenly opened wide as another image shone through a crack in his memory. A boy swinging up into a cloudless blue sky under a bright desert sun. "I do remember something!" Again he touched his forehead as if focusing his thoughts with a touch. And spoke haltingly and carefully. "Coming back from Mexico…with Mother and Daddy… I remember! This little split level motel… fairly isolated, out in the desert. Only four or five cars there." Now his voice was excited, and the words came tumbling out. "It was still early when we got to our room. I asked Mother if I could go outside. She said yes, but to be careful. 

"When I got outside, I saw a playground. It was completely empty. There was a slide at one end, a merry-go-round at the other, the kind you push, and a jungle gym and a swing in between, that faced out into the desert. I remember being drawn into it, for some reason. I think it was because I could have it all to myself!"  

His voice suddenly took on some resentment as he added, "Not to have to be around them, for a change."  

Ray and Ed looked at each other. "Be around who, Chris?" Ed asked.  

Chris seemed to ignore the question, but all malice disappeared from his voice as he continued, "The sun was warm, there was a slight breeze, the sky was so blue…and …the forbidden feelings came tumbling out...as I knew they would, and I didn't resist them." Here he hesitated, as if he'd confessed too much.  

"Forbidden feelings?"  

His companions' curiosity and fascination were so palpable, he could almost taste it.  

"We call it 'Dancing with God,'" he explained simply.  

It's not that the forbidden feelings were intrinsically bad, he guessed, but more that they were unessential to survival and at their worst, detrimental to survival...they could make you unalert, unaware …unvigilant.  

"But what could they hurt in this lonely playground in this beautiful desert on this bright sunny day? Just for a little while… to forget...to give in to flight of fancy...and let imagination take me away to a world of my own making..." 

He didn't even sense the human child coming into the playground.  

Chris snarled and went rigid. "Suddenly the merry-go-round I was sitting on started to move! I whirled around and there was this little red-headed girl, curls hanging down in her face, pushing with all her strength!"   

"Mother knew…" he thought. That's what she'd meant when she warned him to be careful. He realized that now. 

"I shouldn't have let her come up on me like that," Chris said. "After she got the merry-go-round going, she jumped on. Her face broke into the brightest smile as she turned to look at me." 

"'I'm so glad you're here! There's been nobody to play with for two whole days!'  

"I just glared at her." Chris reflected. "She was kind of pretty."  

Then he growled, "But I still wanted her to go away." 

"'How long are you staying?' she asked eagerly.  

"'Till tomorrow,' I scowled. 

"'Oh.' She looked down. This very slight feeling emanated from her, but quickly evaporated before I could tell what it was. 'We could both push and make this merry-go-round go around really fast,' she offered eagerly.  

A disconcerting smile spread over Chris's face. "'OK. Let me push you around this time,' I hissed.  

"I gave the merry-go-round a really hard shove and then started running around, pushing it harder and harder. 'I can make her go away!' I thought. 'She'll beg me to stop, and then she'll leave! 

"But she didn't say a word. Her eyes just got bigger and bigger and she held on tighter and tighter. I leaped back on the merry-go-round and kept pumping with my feet. All of a sudden she leaned way back, her nose tilted up at the sky, her eyes sparkling, her long hair flying in the wind.  

"'Lean back,' she called to me, 'it's fun!' Something coming from her swept over me...this feeling of ...such joy…! It was contagious, I couldn't resist. I found myself staring up at a dizzily spinning sky, the wind deliciously whipping through my hair, and ... I started to laugh. She turned her head then and looked into my eyes, grinning wide, impish and freckled  from ear to ear. 

"The  merry -go -round twirled around slower and slower. Then we both heard it. A quavering swell that pierced  the air and then just faded away. The little girl peered wistfully into the branches of a near by tree. 

"'I wish I could see him.' 

"The feelings of curiosity and longing emanating from her were so intense.  I looked toward the branch and pursed my lips against my teeth. Suddenly a small winged creature flew crazily through the air toward us, shrieking as it hit my shoulder. 

"I picked it off my shirt and held it out to her. 

"She scooted towards me gingerly, cupping her hands. 

"'Oh,' she gasped. "It's so beautiful!' 

We both looked down at the long transparent  wings, made up of  little patterned sections of  iridescent green, covering a stubby ringed body, and the little black eyes a good half inch apart watching us.  

"'It's a big one, isn't it? How long do you suppose it is?' 

"'At least three inches,' I said. 

She opened her hands, and it flew away. Then she turned to me. 

"'Can you teach me to do that?' 

"'What's your name?' I asked softly. 

"'Janie.' 

"'I'm Chris, Janie.' 

"We played together all that afternoon, and hardly noticed the time. When Mother called me for supper, I didn't want to go.  

The next morning, the phone rang. It was Janie, eagerly asking if I could come out to play for a while. But it was time for us to move on. I asked Mother if I could go tell Janie good-bye.  

"'Don't get too attached to them,' Mother warned me. 'You'll start your training soon.' But she let me go.  

"When I entered the playground one last time, I saw Janie waiting for me by the merry-go-round. As I got closer, I saw something glistening on her cheek. Janie pulled a small cassette tape out of her pocket and pressed it into my hand. 

"Neil Diamond - my favorite,' she said. 'You can have it. To remember me by.' I slipped the tape into my pocket, then reached out to touch the glistening spot on her cheek. When I drew my hand back, the tips of my fingers were wet.  

"'I never met anyone like you before,' Janie said. Suddenly, shyly, she reached up and pressed her lips against my cheek.  They were soft and warm. As she turned and ran away, I sensed ...sadness and ...affection. And realized they were coming from me." 

Chris's voice trailed off for a moment. "I never told Mother about the tape. But I listened to it over and over. Because it made me remember that day…that freedom…dancing with God." 

He recited the words softly,   

When he looked up, Ed and Rayella were listening to him intently. Chris reached out slowly, took a strand of her hair in his hand and pulled gently toward him. It was starting to dry, and felt warm and soft between his fingers. Ray didn't resist as he drew her in close.   

"Her hair was long and curly, like yours," he said wonderingly, looking down into her face.  

Suddenly he opened his hand, and let the strand of hair slide off his fingers. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "Of course. They used that experience to program me!"   

"What do you mean?" asked Ray and Ed in unison.   

Chris suddenly looked away and said no more.   

After a few moments, Ray ventured, "Chris. You talk about feelings like they're a taste or smell or color - something outside of you. And out there on the river - you could tell things were going to happen before you saw or heard anything. Is it a sixth sense?"   

"I can tell when something's about to happen," Chris admitted. Then he added, "And I can detect you by sensing your feelings."   

"Just by picking up my feelings? Not by seeing or hearing me?" Ray said with some consternation. "That would be quite a biological advantage!"  

"Yeah," Ed agreed. "Like some kind of psychic radar!"  

"It's also quite a burden!" Chris replied with some anguish. "I'm a chameleon. My job is to get close to humans..." his voice trailed off.   

"They program you to get close to people so you can kill them?" Rayella asked, remembering how his eyes had sparkled at her in the police station and at the lab.   

Chris just looked down at his lap. "But to know what they're feeling..." he said, almost under his breath. He could sense his companions' shock now. It was tangible as the earth beneath his feet, as Rayella's slender body next to his. Suddenly he just wanted to get away from there.   

Rayella took a deep breath as she digested this startling information. Suddenly she turned to Chris and rested a sympathetic hand on his arm. At her touch, he looked down into her face surprised, his blue eyes probing her violet ones for an answer to some haunting question.   

She leaned back against the rock and looked out at the rain. She'd first learned about Evolution in kindergarten. From a children's book with drawings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Later in history and biology she'd learned about the unpopular theories of a man named Darwin, heard the account of the Scopes monkey trial, seen drawings of the progression of man from an apelike creature into what he looked like today. In Uncle Harv's church, she'd listened to countless sermons and discussions on Creation vs. Evolution. Then in college, she'd met Rachel Burns and followed destiny, making an uneasy peace between her science and her faith. Even knowing Rachel's theories, she'd always thought that one day advancement would just magically happen.It never occurred to her that humans might have to contend with a newer species for resources and for dominance. She guessed she'd just never thought. But in all surprises of the last two days, she knew one thing for certain, as she sat there still feeling the grit from Big Sandy in her shoes and an occasional twinge from the bump on her head. She was very glad she hadn't left Chris to drown at the hotel. And she knew something else. There were so many unanswered questions just hanging out there...she and Ed had just been given a glimpse of the Incomprehensible. And she was drawn toward it as a moth to the flame. She didn't want to fight or hurt. She just wanted to know. Suddenly a big smile spread across her face.   

"Hey, Ed, do you remember any games you used to play when you were a kid?"   

"Why are you asking me about Ancient History?" Ed quipped. Actually, he almost welcomed the change in topic. "I'm a geneticist, not an anthropologist!"   

"What was your favorite game, when you were six or seven, Ed?" she persisted.   

"Oh...Freeze Tag, I guess."   

"I liked that one. Remember Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" Ray laughed. "And Simon Says, and Mother May I? And Guess What I See Now?"   

"Yeah," Ed chuckled. "And my other personal favorite, Red Rover, Red Rover!"   

"Oh, I loved Red Rover!" Ray exclaimed.   

Chris's eyes seemed to sparkle and soften as he listened to the two of them. "How do you play it?" he asked suddenly.   

"It's mostly strategy," Ed told him. "The object is to get the most people. To do that, you have to break a link in the other team's chain. If you do, you get to take one of their guys back to your chain. Of course you want the strongest. Because they'll help you get even more links. So if you think you can break it, you pit your full strength and speed against the toughest link to break."   

"And if you're the smallest and the shortest, you look for the weakest link in the chain," Rayella chimed in.  

Everyone fell silent. When Chris finally responded, he said, "You asked me how we're different, Ed. Our brains are smaller than yours."   

"Smaller and more efficient," Ed marveled to Ray. "It follows the evolutionary model!"nbsp;  

The next morning Rayella opened her eyes to find Ed laying across their laps, his arm across his face, his dark hair fallen over his eyes. Chris's head was resting on her shoulder, his face completely relaxed in the innocence of sleep. With the morning light falling on his short blond curls, softening his sculpted features, he looked like some renaissance painter's angelic child, not like a trained killer, she thought. She looked over at the adjoining ledge. The cougar was gone. She shivered slightly, and Ed and Chris both stirred.   

"It's stopped raining," Chris observed, sitting up. They looked out at the river valley in daylight. The sky was still cloudy, and water was everywhere, dripping off the rocks into the swollen river below them, filling all the little dips and low spots on its way down.   

"Breakfast," Ray said. "You got anything else in your back pack, Ed?"   

Ed searched through his bag, pulled out a power bar, and split it 3 ways. "Finish it," he said, "and let's climb."   

As they reached the top of the cliff, the sound of a search and rescue plane greeted their ears.   

"Look! Over there!" exclaimed the co-pilot.   

Three figures were silhouetted along the ridge, waving frantically.   

An hour later, Rayella, Ed and Chris were seated in a DNR rescue helicopter, Rayella beside Chris, and Ed in the back seat. For some reason, another tune had been going through her head all morning. She started to hum as she looked at the window."   

"What song is that, Ray?" asked Ed.   

"Just some old song I learned in Bible school one summer at Uncle Harv's," Ray answered. She sang the words to him,   

"It's pretty," Chris said. "What does it mean?"   

"Oh," Ray reflected, "it's just talking about a time in the future. Uncle Harv's church calls it the Millennium. Supposedly God will come down to earth and reign for a thousand years of peace. Nations will beat their swords into plowshares. And all the predators and the prey will dwell together in safety."   

"It's a beautiful vision," Ed said. "But not too practical."   

"The Bible's full of sayings like that," Ray said. "...A little child shall lead them... Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth..."   

Chris gazed intently at the two of them, "You know they'll send someone else after you," he said.   

"We'll fight if we have to," Ed replied immediately.   

"Help us, Chris!" Rayella implored suddenly. "We have so much to learn! Help us understand your species, their origins, their anatomy...their plans. Help us find a way to - to talk to them."   

"Talk to them?" Ed blurted out. "This is Evolution, Ray, remember? No two species can adapt to the same habitat. How can we - how can he," Ed pointed to Chris, "stop that?"   

"I don't know, Ed - but we have to try!" Ray insisted passionately. "Is Evolution really something so immutable? If I hadn't picked up a telephone on a whim just thirty-six hours ago... If Chris's parents hadn't stopped at a little hotel in Texas twenty-five years ago...things might have turned out a whole lot different for all of us today! There's just got to be some room for choice here! We've come so far and learned so much. The future is still ours to touch!"   

Ed shrugged silently.   

"What about you, Chris?" Ray asked suddenly. "Will they send someone after you?"   

Chris looked away from them and answered raggedly, "Yes."   

"Will you fight - if you have to?" She held her breath as Chris appeared to study the ground surface outside the copter window.  

Chris Archer looked down at the neat little patchwork squares and circles divided by tree-lines and roads, and dotted with farm houses. Then he noticed the helicopter's shadow scooting along the ground beside them. The sun was coming out, he realized. Finally, he turned around to face Ed and Ray. "Yes," he answered.   

As the log jam cleared out and swept his niece and her friends away from him, Harv managed to grab hold of a piece of floating debris. An eddy spun him away from the hotel into a slower section of moving current that flowed through the center of town in the wake of the huge pillar of water sent from Paoli Dam. Harv paddled slowly along looking for some place where he might manage to get up on a dry spot. Harv had been an outdoorsman all of his life. In his younger days, he was quite the adventurer, so he could tread water a long time. He could also handle himself in a crisis and was a survivor. As he floated slowly down the flooded city street, he saw a pile of debris in the flood waters. They were slowly subsiding, now, and there was a body barely visible just emerging from the floods. The person was dead, but he knew who he was.   

As Harv floated further down stream, he approached a section where the current was much swifter. He might have avoided it, but he heard someone crying out for help. Instinctively, he paddled the board he was floating on out into the current and floated in the direction of the cries. When he got closer, he saw it was Janet Donaldson who had been stranded at his house. Her head was barely above water, but in the fast moving current, she wasn't moving. Harv figured she must have gotten caught on something. He paddled towards her.   

When Harv got close, he yelled out, "Are you stuck?"   

She yelled back, "Yes, my pants are caught on something under the water."   

When Harv got closer, he let go of the board and swam to Janet. He grabbed hold of her to keep from floating away.   

"I'm going to swim down and see if I can't cut you loose," he yelled above the roar of the water in his ears.   

He disappeared under the muddy, churning water. Suddenly, Janet was freed! The rushing current started dragging her down stream quickly. It was starting to pull her under when she felt someone grab her.   

"Just relax and float," Harv said. "I've got you! There's a log coming by. I'm going to paddle for it!"   

She felt Harv towing her through the current. She thought to herself, "My, he's a strong swimmer!"   

Then Harv yelled, "I've got it! Grab ahold!"   

Janet spun around and grabbed the log. They floated along for a few moments resting.   

Then Harv yelled, "See the old Cedar Creek Savings and Loan over there! It's got an outside fire escape going up the side. Help me paddle for it. If we can reach it, we can climb up the escape to the roof and wait out this flood!"   

They both paddled as hard they could. Sure enough they came along side of the escape. Harv grabbed the ladder with one hand and grabbed Janet with the other. He pulled them over to the fire escape, and they both climbed out of the water and up to the roof.   

When they both got securely situated, Harv said, "We oughta be safe here, now. The worst should be over. Pretty soon, they'll be a comin' round lookin' for survivors. Guess, we were both pretty lucky. I hope my niece made it to safety. She seemed to be in good hands."   

Janet spoke almost as if she were in a daze, "Yeah, I guess I was lucky. When Ron grabbed me off that roof, I thought he would help me. Hell, I shoulda known better. It was every man for himself. Ron always looked out for number one. He just took off and left me. I was never a very good swimmer. I was floundering around and just by luck got hold of some wood floatin' by. When the dam broke, it sorta just drug me along until I got snagged on that thing you found me on."   

"It was a hook for a hanging sign. Well, I guess you were lucky you didn't go off with Ron. He didn't make it. I saw him washed up on some debris back there. Sorry," Harv said gently.   

Janet sobbed and then mumbled, "Oh, his poor wife and kids. Sounds hypocritical, doesn't it? I always thought he'd leave her and go with me. Oh, I just shoulda drowned!"   

"Well, I'm glad you didn't," Harv told her as he comforted her. "We all make dumb mistakes from time to time. It's just how we live the rest of our lives to make up for them mistakes."   

"Well, mine is a pretty big mistake," Janet explained. "I got pregnant. I told Ron while we were at Loomis. He came unglued. My family will disown me. I don't have anyone anymore! What am I gonna do?" She sobbed.   

"You're not all alone. Old Harv's pulled ya outa the flood twice now. Reckon that makes him somewhat responsible for your life. You see, we around here aren't that judgemental. We believe people are entitled to another chance. Old Harv will help ya in whatever way he can. You're always welcome 'round here," Harv stated.   

"I could have an abortion, but I've always wanted kids. You never know. I could have an abortion and never have another chance?" Janet mused.   

"Well, I reckon you gotta do whatever you think is right. If you decide to have the baby, you don't have to go through it all alone. 'Round here, we're all like family. We look after one another. Don't matter where you've been or what you've done. If we can help you get your feet back on the road, well, that's what we're here for," Harv assured her.   

"Thank you. You've been really kind," Janet responded.   

"Well, don't you worry. Everything is gonna be alright. See, looky there! Here comes a rescue chopper now," Harv said as he pointed towards a bright search light in the sky coming their way.   

Luke, Michelle, and Mariah sat in shock as the boat gently rocked back and forth like a cradle with the current. As time went by, the rain stopped and the sky became lighter as the sun rose. The water was receding quickly now. It became apparent that their boat had run aground on the top of a tall silo. J.R. had walked of it and was swept away by the floodwaters. If they hadn't been so sad, the irony of it all would have been quite funny. Here they were sitting in a boat on top of a building! Shortly after dawn, a chopper came by and picked them off the silo's roof.   

When they were all inside the chopper, one of the rescuers asked, "Are there any more of you around that you know of?"   

Mariah answered, "My husband was swept on down stream. We don't know what happened to him."   

The rescuer replied, "We'll sweep on down stream before we go back and see if we can sight him anywhere."   

Michelle interrupted, "There were several people with us at a restaurant downtown. Do you know if they made it?"   

"We found three atop the cliffs back there just before we rescued you. Rayella Bridgewaters, a Dr. Ed Tate, and a Detective Chris Archer. They said they had been at that restaurant. Then we found another man and woman, just like you, atop the old Cedar Creek Bank Building," the man answered.   

Michelle queried nervously, "What about Harv? Did you find Harv?"   

"Yeah, he was the one on top of the bank. You just can't stop an ol' cuss like Harv," the man said with a smile.   

"There was a young kid with an older woman, and a pregnant lady..." Michelle went on.   

"They're all safe," the man assured her.   

"The lady was in labor," Michelle added.   

"Her baby is doing just fine," the man said.   

"Oh, thank God!" Michelle sighed with relief. "Now, if we could just find J.R. safe and sound."   

The pilot yelled back from the front, "I think we've got a live one over here," as he pointed down.   

Everyone peered out the door of the chopper. There, hanging from the limb of a tree along the bank of the still flooded river was J.R. flailing his arms and legs trying to free himself.   

The copter hovered over the tree. Luke, Michelle, and Mariah watched as a rescue worker descended a ladder and safely snagged J.R. from the tree. The copter then proceeded to land in a school yard on the outskirts of Harpersville. As Luke, Michelle, J.R., and Mariah disembarked, Harv and the others surrounded them, armed with a Polaroid of Lucille's baby who with Lucille had already been transported off to a neighboring hospital.   

Michelle Monissey and Mariah Walsh were just stowing their suitcases in the luggage compartment of the chartered bus which was destined first for the Grand Canyon, then up through Nevada and Utah into Colorado. Luke Monissey and J.R. Walsh had already climbed on board.   

Mariah queried, "So have you heard anything lately from our fellow adventurers last year?"   

Michelle replied excitedly, "Oh, yes, I just got some pictures from Lucille of her baby. She's up walking around furniture already. Isn't it hard to believe?"   

The pair boarded the bus and took their seats.   

Michelle went on, "Then I heard from Harv. Janet had a little baby boy. Harv is playing Grandpa. Granny and Denny are getting along well together. He's enrolled in some vocational training. Ray is well into her research. It has something to do with genetics. Something like the discovery of a new species. I don't get it all. She and that FBI Agent Chris Archer have become good friends, Harv says. Harv said they might all meet us at the Grand Canyon. He's such an outdoorsman! I sure hope he does. I'll be much less nervous if ol' Harv's around."   

"What's there to be nervous about?" Mariah asked. "After all, we're on a chartered tour bus. We have a professional driver and guide. What could be safer?"   

"I'm sure looking forward to a nice relaxing vacation this year. After last year, I've had enough excitement for a lifetime," Michelle stated emphatically. She and Mariah both settled back contentedly as the driver boarded the bus. He looked strangely familiar as he turned around to face the busload of travelers. Those gray eyes looking out at them from under a black chauffeur's cap, long blond hair swept back around his shoulders. He flashed white teeth at them as he introduced himself. "My name is Lynch Peters, and I will be your driver and guide for this trip. Just sit back and make yourselves comfortable...and leave the driving to me."