Extinction Level Event Read Free Page A

Wow, even more worms. . . .
     
    9 hours later. . .
     
    Michelle Williams returns home from work
tired and hungry. To hell with work on the garden today.
Straight to dinner. Realizing that Mike’s car is already parked
in the garage, she pulls into her driveway and parks next to the
front door, in the only available parking spot since one of the
houses’ two garage is full of tools. Turning off the car, she grabs
her purse and a file folder next to it and gets out of the car. In
the dark, she doesn’t see much on the ground, and walks into her
house quickly. The kids are watching a television show, which
they’re only allowed to do since its Friday night and their
favorite shows run throughout Friday afternoon. Grandmother is
sitting in a chair sewing a sweater. Michelle heads into the
kitchen, sees a pot of soup cooked probably a few hours ago, and a
box of chicken nuggets in the fridge. Deciding that that would be
enough for dinner, she eats, changes, and goes to bed.
     
    The next morning, Mike unusually goes out the
door even earlier than Michelle. Just when she thinks he’s headed
off to work already, he returns inside with an odd look on his
face, as if he had just eater a very bitter lemon. “About those
worms. . . they’re still all out there”, he states grimly. “What do
you mean, still out there? I thought you said they wouldn’t be
there today,” asks Michelle not liking the news, . “well, they are,
and . . . its really odd. . . they’re just. . . all, like.
Dead.”.
     
    “Dead?” Shocked into silence, Michelle simply
sits stone-cold, contemplating the thought over and over again.
“Dead?”. “Yeah, all of them. It's like a graveyard. All those worms
coming out yesterday or the day before, they’re all just lying out
there dead. It’s a mess.” Mike just slumps into a sofa with the
same odd sour look upon his face, and grimaces. “We’re gonna have
to clean up, and it’s a big mess. I don’t want dead worms all over
our yard”. Michelle simply sits in silence, going over the strange
turn of events over the last two days. Mike just sits looking like
a man stunned, multiple unknown thoughts flicking across his
face.
     
    “Alright. We’ve got a lot of worms, but
that’s not a problem. Lets get ready, and do this together. You get
the brooms, I’ll get the trash bin and a spade. We clean it up in
about two hours, and case closed. We don’t have to talk about this
again”, says Mike. Michelle replies kindly, “ok. But how did they
die like that? We should think about that before simply sweeping
them away and forgetting about it. What happens if it happens
again?”
    “I don’t know,” Mike slowly murmurs, twisting
his fingers around in a way he usually does when thinking. Several
seconds pass. “But we don’t have to worry about that”. Let’s just
clean it up. If there’s a problem tomorrow, we ask someone”. “Fine,
I guess. So let’s do this?” replies Michelle. The couple gets off
the chairs that they were sitting on and move with a renewed sense
of purpose.
    The next hour and a half are spent sweeping
the patio, the backyard, and the front yard of worms. Tired, worn
out from both work and the strange ordeal, the two decide that it
is enough work for one day. Most of the area around the house seems
to be cleared of worms. The couple looks at each other, each with a
broom in one hand and a spade in the other. “You think we should go
in now? I can hardly see anything anymore”. “Yeah, me too. I’m so
tired, and I think we’re done here.” “Lets go to bed”.
     
    The next morning, when Michelle steps out of
the house for some fresh air, she notices that there are no worms
lying on the ground. Well, thank God. Looks like that dilemma
finally ended. Michelle smiled, and knew that whatever
happened, it wouldn’t repeat itself again. Still smiling, she went
back into the house after picking up her mail.
     
    Miles Farm
     
    Gregory Miles couldn’t believe his