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who died of a heart attack because he refused to leave wherever he
was? Didn’t take a shit for ten days. Got so backed up his heart just gave up.”
    “Where do you get this
stuff?” Carly said.
    “It’s true. I’ll look it up
right now.”
    “Please don’t,” Jane said.
Then to me: “Anyway, that’s your answer, that’s what I miss. Traveling. Full
immersion VR is pretty good, but it’s…well, it’s sort of like New America,
isn’t it? A little bit…off?”
    “Okay, okay, enough New
America bashing,” Steve said. “You’re going to scare Bob back up the rabbit
hole.”
    “You know that’s not
possible,” Jane said.
    “Really, Einstein? It was a—”
He clamped his mouth shut.
    “Metaphor!” Carly sang.
“Drink, people!”
     
    ☼
     
    The dinner
of burgers, sausages, and salads was quite good. I found myself to be ravenous,
not only because I had not eaten since the day before, but because New People,
given their small size, burned energy at a relatively high rate. We continued
discussing New America. Steve and Carly were clearly proponents of life here,
while Jane continued to butt heads with them, though I didn’t think she had any
deep-seated malcontent toward New America; rather, it seemed she simply liked
playing devil’s advocate. Rachel, intriguingly and a bit unnervingly, didn’t
speak more than a dozen words all evening.
    At ten thirty my eyes grew
heavy from the beer, and I decided to take my leave. I thanked Steve and Carly
for their hospitality and said goodbye to the others. Rachel announced she was
leaving too, so we left together.
    Standing out front the house,
she said, “So how was your first day?”
    “It was…okay,” I said. “It
was nice meeting all of you.”
    “Ignore Jane and most of what
she says about New America. She just likes to stir the pot sometimes.”
    “You didn’t get much into the
debate.”
    “Because everybody here has
an opinion of New America, and everybody’s always telling you that opinion. I’m
sick of it. We’re here. It is what it is. Let’s move on.”
    “Sound advice,” I said. “I’ll
keep that in mind.”
    Rachel brushed an errant lock
of hair from her face. “I’m just down the street. 3710.” She pointed. “If you
ever need anything, come by.”
    “That’s a kind offer. Thank
you.”
    She tiptoed and kissed me on
the cheek. Her lips lingered a beat longer than appropriate.
    “Goodnight, Bob,” she said,
and started away
    I watched her for a long
moment, then I crossed the lawn back to my house.
     
    ☼
     
    I was
tempted to call Maureen, to let her know that New America wasn’t so bad, that
I’d already met some nice people. But I didn’t. I’d only had three beers, but
that was three more than I usually had on any given night, and if the
conversation with Maureen took a turn for the worse, I didn’t want to say something
I might later regret. Better to go to sleep, wake up fresh, call her then.
    I went upstairs and urinated
in the toilet, which informed me I was at risk of dehydration and should drink
some water. Ignoring its advice, I cleaned my teeth, then dropped into bed.
    I was passed out before the
lights dimmed all the way to dark.
     
    ☼
     
    A
loud crash somewhere caused me to jerk upright in bed. I listened but didn’t
hear anything more. For some reason the bedroom light didn’t turn on.
    “Lights,” I said.
    The room remained pitch
black.
    What the hell?
    “Blinds,” I said.
    They didn’t open.
    “Shit,” I mumbled, slipping
out of bed.
    What had I heard? A window
breaking?
    Why wasn’t the house
responding to me?
    I crept across the room. I’d
left the door open. I stopped at the threshold and listened again.
    Still nothing.
    “Hello?” I called.
    No answer.
    Blind, I stepped into the
hallway—and something slammed into my gut. My breath exploded from my mouth. I
doubled over. Someone gripped my hair and shirt and launched me forward. I tripped
over my own feet and landed on my