Part 34 (1/2)
Mara smiled. They were an odd pair. ”I talked to Carol Sandoval. She thinks Suter is out to get us on the pa.s.senger disappearances.”
”That's just a pretext. Just like the arrest for breaking into the hangar was a pretext. He thinks, somehow, you caused the plane accident,” Ping said.
”Well, in a way, thanks to Howdy Doody here, I did have something to do with it. What do you think we should do about them?”
”I'm not sure there's a whole lot we can do, especially if they connect us to the Gamble disappearances. Remember, the man in the attic may have gotten a look at us.”
”Great. Sam may have to break us out next time.”
The waitress stopped by, jotted down their orders on a little green pad and left for the kitchen.
”How has your weekend been?” Ping asked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.
”More eventful than I had antic.i.p.ated. I went to Mount Tabor Park.”
”We heard on the radio something about dogs going missing. Is that the park where that is happening?”
”Was happening, I believe.”
Ping raised an eyebrow. ”Tell me.”
”I saw the reports about the missing dogs on the news Friday and decided to go look into it.” She shrugged. ”I'm not sure why.”
”And? What did you find?”
”There was a man stalking around in the woods, hunting animals-and people, it turns out. He spit up this gunk and rubbed it on his body, and it made him practically invisible. I followed him around for a while and watched him hunt down a squirrel, then he went after this little girl.”
”I hope she wasn't hurt. What happened?”
”Well, I'm not really sure. He started running toward her, hunting her, and I...” Mara looked down and rubbed her palms together. ”I guess I stopped him.”
”You pixelated him, didn't you?” Sam asked.
”No. I mean, he was pixelated for a few minutes, until the wind blew him away.”
Ping c.o.c.ked his head. ”Blew him away?”
The waitress returned with a large tray balanced on one hand and her shoulder. She carried a tray stand in her other hand, which she deployed and set down the tray next to the table.
”That was fast,” Sam said with enthusiasm.
She put a dish before each of them, asked if they needed anything else, picked up the tray and stand, and returned to the kitchen.
Ping leaned forward. ”So you said something about blowing him away.”
Mara held up her hands. ”I didn't blow anyone away. I don't think I did. Just as he leaped at the little girl, I guess I froze him. He was trapped in midair, all blurry-like the basketball at the warehouse-then the wind sorta blew away all his pixels, and he was gone.
”And the girl?” Ping asked.
”She's fine. She didn't see a thing. Her back was turned.”
”It was probably not a good idea to go there alone. You could have been hurt,” Ping said.
”Who would you suggest go with me? You were out of town, and, even if you had gone with me, that puff-of-dust thing you do isn't really much help in a pinch.”
”There is nothing I can do about that. It's instinctive,” he said. ”When I'm around, I can serve as a distraction, if nothing else. In some cases, maybe Sam can help out.”
Sam waved a fork, chewed and nodded.
”Also I think it would be a good practice to always let someone know where you are before putting yourself in harm's way. And if you come up missing, someone will know to look for you.”
”I suppose that makes sense.” Mara took a drink of water and said, ”I do have a question about what happened in the park.”
”What is it?” Ping asked.
”That guy, the hunter. Where exactly is he now? Is he dead?”
”Where did you want him to go? What were you thinking at the time?”
”I wasn't thinking of a place. I just didn't want him to be there doing what he was doing.”
”So you didn't think it would be better for him to be in his own realm, or it might be better for him to be dead or something else?”
”No. Neither of those would have occurred to me. I just didn't want him to be there.”
”Hmm... Let's think about this for a minute. If you didn't send him somewhere, maybe you just erased him, probably from this realm. He no longer exists here.”
”So I killed him?”
”Not in the literal sense. Remember, this realm is just perception. You erased his pixels. His consciousness most likely continues in other realms just as before, running different scenarios. You simply ended his scenario here in this realm by erasing him.”
”I'm not sure I see the difference.”
”Look at it this way. He was never supposed to be in this realm. His actions were inappropriate for this place, and you corrected the situation. Don't blame yourself. He could have hurt or even killed someone. You might say you repaired the situation, like a broken gadget.” He paused to cut his carne asada. ”Next time, though, try to focus on what you would like to happen. Don't give in to panic. Think about what you are attempting to do. That might give you a little more control over your abilities and the consequences of using them.”
”Consequences. There is that word again.” She turned to Sam, who continued to stuff food into his mouth. ”Do you follow all of this?”
”No, but I don't have to.” He shrugged.
”Why not?”
”Because I don't erase people, sis.”
”I'm not your sis, bro.”
”Whatever. You gonna erase that taco, or can I have it?”