Neither of us wanted to stop and we got into Kansas City late and soaked. Alice is a real trooper. She didn’t complain. She only shielded behind me ...henever we passed through the spray of an 18-wheeler. A few times I felt her helmet hit me in the back as she dropped off to sleep. I didn’t worry that she’d fall off as the captain’s chair arms held her in. As we pull up under the porte-cochere at the hotel I ask Alice if she is still ecstatic. I get a good thump on my back in reply. The hotel,. Slowly but surely, a sense of normalcy returned. People began to grow accustomed to these silent beings as work began to resume, schools opened their doors once more, and wars continued to be fought.It started as whispers at first. These 'Shadows' as they were referred to, would grant 'deals' and almost godlike power that enabled people to manipulate the world in such a way that could make the impossible possible. If these deals were broken people would vanish or die. Politicians made it. Crete always ran a really vigorous PE class and he participated as well. Since this was a small school, the coaches did not have a separate locker room or office. Mr. Crete just stripped naked with the rest of the guys and used one of the small cage lockers like the rest of us. If he was an older teacher that might have been weird, but since he was the same age as some of our older siblings it wasn’t strange at all.After class, he was always just as sweaty and dirty as the rest of us, and we. ”Peter nodded in understanding. “So, any time now.”Shirley shrugged. “Probably later, after dinner. They were planning to attend services this morning at Holy Name Cathedral.”“And the word from Boston?” asked Lauren.Again, Shirley shrugged and replied, “No news is good news.”“Boston?” questioned Peter.“Ah, that would be Helen,” commented Frank.“Helen is in Boston?” asked Peter.Lauren nodded. “Uh huh. Her doctor friend had some sort of medical convention or whatever this week and invited her for.