afraid of having the transparent version show up again.
As I was going upstairs, the phone rang. âItâs for you,â my mom called from the kitchen.
âIâll get it up here!â I shouted, heading toward the phone in my parentsâ bedroom.
It was Norman on the other end. âWant to go into town?â he asked.
âSure. Iâll meet you by your house.â There was no point sitting around waiting to fade again.
I got dressed, grabbed my jacket, and headed out. The morning sun felt really hot. I took off the jacket, but that felt even worse with the sun beating down on me, so I put the jacket back on. As I walked past the house next door, Mr. Nordyâs dog, Browser, came running up to the fence. I stopped to pet him.
As I reached out, Browser whined, then turned and ran around to the back of the house, his tail between his legs.
Weird.
I met Norman by his place, and we headed into town. Itâs not a long walkâabout nine blocks. As soon as I reached him, Norman started telling me all about some new software heâd downloaded. Heâs big on that stuff. We both like monster movies and comics. And we both like video games. But Norman is way more into computers than I am. I think theyâre fun, but I donât get swallowed up by them the way he does. I could just imagine him getting sucked into his computer with nothing but his feet dangling out.
âUh-oh,â Norman said after weâd walked a couple of blocks.
I looked ahead. Down the street, on our side, I saw one of lifeâs real monsters. It was Lud Mellon. Put him together with his brother Bud, and youâd have enough IQ for half a person. They were stupid and mean. Getting a Mellon angry at you was like taking something from one of those cursed Egyptian tombs. Sooner or later, one way or another, doom would fall. It was always a good idea to avoid being noticed by Lud or Bud.
We crossed the street, hoping he hadnât spotted us. Luckily, Lud seemed to have something else on his tiny piece of mind and didnât look our way.
âI hate those guys,â Norman said. âSomewhere along the line, a couple of their genes took a U-turn and headed back to the Stone Age.â
âAgreed.â We reached the comic book shop without any other problems. This place sold comics and monster books and masks and stuff and was called the Gore and More Store. âGreat,â I said, seeing that the newest issue of Swollen Rat People from Another Universe had finally arrived.
âLook,â Norman said, holding up his discovery. âItâs the new Hyper Hurricane Man .â
âIâll tell you what: Iâll get Rat People, you get Hurricane, and weâll swap after we read them.â
âDeal.â We took our purchases up to the register and paid Lenny.
âThanks, guys,â he said as he counted the change. âThe new Hawkchild is due out next week. Should I save a copy for you?â
âSure,â I said. We headed out.
âWhere to?â Norman asked as we returned to the bright light outside the store.
âYour house?â I asked.
He shook his head. âMomâs cooking.â Normanâs mom was a caterer. She made fancy meals for people having parties. Most of the time, she was real friendly. But when she had a big order to fill, she didnât like having any extra kids around. So there were times we couldnât go to Normanâs house. On the other hand, it also meant there was usually lots of good food when we did go there, since his mom was always trying new recipes. âHow about your place?â Norman asked.
âWeâll have to share our comics with Rory. Thatâs okay with you, isnât it?â
âI donât mind. He can read mine first.â
âGreat.â
We headed back toward my house. I couldnât keep my eyes off the cover of Swollen Rat People . The artwork was great. Rat Masterson and
Stephen King, Stewart O'Nan