Spaceland Read Online Free PDF Page A

would have touched the barrier. And then they came over and nudged my hand. A peremptory touch, firm and insistent. The first bunch of blobs tapped me on the side of my cheek.
    â€œGod help me,” I groaned. I could hardly breathe. I was having a heart attack. A stroke. I had to get to the hospital. It wasn’t far. I could walk there if I had to. No, better to drive. I looked around the room for my keys. The little blobs kept being near my face. Oh man, this was bad.
    My keys, my keys, my keys—I’d left them in my jacket. I walked over to the couch where I’d thrown it. The fleshy globs got there first. They pinched in on my jacket and lifted it into the air. Held it up by the ceiling, waggling it at me. I jumped for the coat; it darted to one side. There was a low laugh.
    â€œYou must listen to me.” The crooked little trumpet right in
front of me. It was a kind of mouth, a mouth with no face. I saw a white flash of crooked teeth down inside it. My stomach clenched hard and then I was puking into the waste basket by my desk. The crab, the salad, the champagne, the margaritas, the Kaliber no-alcohol beer.
    The globs floated down to poke at my vomit. The mouth thing drifted into view, pointing attentively up at me, flexing and smacking like someone chewing gum. I noticed that the skin beside the lip had a faint fuzz of blonde hair on it. The hairs kept coming and going, sprouting out and disappearing.
    â€œI’m from the fourth dimension,” said the mouth in a gentle tone. “My name is Momo. Fear me not.”
    The fourth dimension meant nothing to me. Math, science fiction. Less than nothing.
    â€œMomo,” I murmured, my voice cracking. There was sour puke in my throat. “Wait a minute.” I walked across to the sink and rinsed my mouth out with water. Gargled. Rinsed again. Drank a sip. Splashed my face. The blobs and the trumpet-shaped mouth were right with me. I noticed that some of the blobs had fine ridges on one side, and crescent-shaped patches of hard stuff on the other side. They were clustered together in two groups of five. Fingertips. I reached out and touched some of them. They pushed back against me, unyielding as stone, then jiggled up and down. I was shaking hands with Momo. Was this how it felt to be crazy?
    â€œI’m Joe,” I muttered.
    â€œI know this,” said the trumpet in a low, womanly voice. “Fear not, Joe.”
    I dried my face and went to the bedroom door to peek in on Jena. Fast asleep. I threw myself down on the couch. I took a couple of long, deep breaths. Finally my heart rate was slowing down.
    â€œMomo from the fourth dimension,” I said to the trumpet. “Right.” I didn’t know what to think. I reached out and touched
the fingerballs again. They felt warm, hard, very firmly anchored in the air. “This is part of you? The rest’s invisible?”
    â€œNot invisible,” said Momo’s mouth. “Outside of your Spaceland. Do you wish to see more of me?”
    â€œNo. Leave me alone. I’m going to bed.” This wasn’t happening. I was imagining things. It was time to be safe in the dark bed with Jena. I got to my feet.
    Five of the skin-covered balls grew longer, bunched themselves together, and formed a palm-sized blob at their base. A hand. The hand pushed me and I flew back onto the couch.
    â€œObserve,” said the trumpet-mouth. It changed shape and ballooned out to one side. Something like cheeks and a nose and chin appeared. A cloud of hair on one side, partly brown, partly blonde. The blank skin near the top of the face puckered and two eyes popped up, not quite the same size, the eyes shifting about in the face like yolks in eggs. At the same time, a neck had appeared beneath Momo’s head, a neck and a lumpy body with arms connecting it to the two hands. She was wearing yellow tight silky material on top, like a fancy T-shirt. Her lower parts were wrapped in