The Cube People Read Online Free PDF

me. Got to get back,” he said and wandered back toward the construction site, yelling at another man to move some pipes to the other side of the house.
    When Ryan came back from his ride, he studied the outside of his house from across the street. It looked straight to him. Inside the house he went over to one of Gillian’s decorative glass vases and pulled out one of the dark blue marbles used to ground the artificial flowers in place. He placed it on the kitchen floor. Nothing. He rolled up the living room carpet and placed the marble there. Nothing. He went upstairs to the bathroom. Nothing. The marble didn’t roll. The house was, from what Ryan could tell, perfectly level. A slight sense of ease came over him. At least the house wasn’t sinking. He descended into the basement to check how the cement was drying. As quickly as the ease had come, it left and was replaced with a sense of dread.
    The hole was back and bigger than before.

Bring on the Free Babies
    Dan usually saunters in sometime between ten and noon. Today he showed up at eleven and announced he would be leaving after lunch for a root canal.
    â€œJesus, Colin, the pain is unbelievable. I woke up last night around three and popped two Advils. It didn’t take the bite off at all. Awful.”
    â€œDoesn’t sound fun.”
    â€œGod, you wouldn’t believe it. Tell me, do I look swollen to you? Here on this side,” he asks, swivelling his head back and forth so I can compare the size of his fatty jowls to one another.
    â€œThey look the same to me.”
    â€œJesus, really, this side feels all swollen, like I’ve been stung by a bee or something.”
    â€œNo, looks good. Hey, I have some questions about the change package you left in my in-basket the other day. You know, the changes you wanted me to make to Program 25.”
    â€œOh yeah, did you finish it already?” he asks, massaging his apparently engorged cheek.
    â€œNo Dan, I haven’t started it yet. I don’t understand what you want me to do. It says to update the CT table, but that table is called from a different program.”
    â€œOh, I just copied the specs. I guess I forgot to change the table name. It’s pretty much the same as the other program, just add a few lines here and drop a few lines there. Not a big change. It shouldn’t take very long at all.”
    â€œI don’t care if it’s big or little, I need to know what you’re asking me to change. It’s due on Friday.”
    â€œNo reason to panic, Colin, I’ll just give you the functional requirements and then you can understand what I’m talking about.”
    â€œOkay, let’s get this straight, you want me to review the functional requirements, then fix the programmer’s specs to match, right?”
    â€œWell yeah, not a big change, it’s pretty obvious when you’re looking at it.”
    â€œBut that’s your job,” I tell him. Dan looks hurt, as if I just told him to go fuck himself, which is really what I want to say.
    â€œGee whiz, Colin, it’s not a big change. I’d do it right now, but I have to go across to the mall and pick up a prescription for my back before I go to the dentist. Everything hurts.”
    â€œI’ll do it for you Dan,” I mumble.
    â€œOh thanks, Colin. If you have any problems, just let me know and I’ll be glad to help,” he says smiling.
    I know I should have more backbone when it comes to these kinds of things. The problem is if I wait for Dan to do it, it won’t get done until after it’s due, or just beforehand, if at all. I’ll end up having to do it anyway. I don’t need the stress. So I do it.
    As I’m working the phone rings. It’s Sarah. She’ll be picking me up in thirty minutes for our fertility appointment with Dr. King. This will be our third appointment with him. My sperm results, by the way, were fantastic. I have nine