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She showed me the answer
“They're just
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She showed me the answer
“They're just linesAnd Uncle Jeb is just an old lunaticA nut job, like the rest of my dad's
family I try to tug the book out of Jared's hands, but he barely seems to notice my effort
“A nut job, like Sharon's mom?” he counters, still studying the dark pencil marks that deface
the back cover of the old photo albumIt's the one thing I haven't lost in all the runningEven
the graffiti loony Uncle Jeb left on it during his last visit has sentimental value now If Sharon is still alive, it will be because her mother, loony Aunt Maggie, could
give loony Uncle Jeb a run for the title of Craziest of the Crazy Stryder SiblingsMy father had
been only slightly touched by the Stryder madness–he didn't have a secret bunker in the
backyard or anythingThe rest of them, his sister and brothers, Aunt Maggie, Uncle Jeb, and
Uncle Guy, were the most devoted of conspiracy theoristsUncle Guy had died before the
others disappeared during the invasion, in a car accident so commonplace that even Maggie and
Jeb had struggled to make an intrigue out of it
My father always affectionately referred to them asthe Crazies“I think it's time we visited the
Crazies,” Dad would announce, and then Mom would groan–which is why such announcements
had happened so seldom
On one of those rare visits to Chicago, Sharon had snuck me into her mother's hidey-holeWe
got caught–the woman had booby traps every-whereSharon was scolded soundly, and though I
was sworn to secrecy, I'd had a sense Aunt Maggie might build a new sanctuary
But I remember where the first isI picture Sharon there now, living the life of Anne Frank in
the middle of an enemy cityWe have to find her and bring her home
Jared interrupts my reminiscing“Nut jobs are exactly the kind of people who will have
survivedPeople who saw Big Brother when he wasn't therePeople who suspected the rest of
humanity before the rest of humanity turned dangerousPeople with hiding places re |