INTERLUDE

Absalom was beginning to feel better hour by hour. Finally the sickness was passing even as his strength was growing. The nightmares would still not cease, however, and he found it difficult to sleep. The sometimes-unfathomable images which flashed across his unconscious mind were so terrible, so utterly frightening, that he could not recall them at all when he awoke. The only thing he could remember was the terror.

He found that the only way to reduce the problems of the nightmares was to stay up all night and sleep during the day, but he knew this could only be a temporary solution. After all, he couldn't go outside during the nighttime -- that was no option on this particular island -- but Absalom was becoming stir-crazy. He needed to get out.

Thus he managed to fall asleep during the night and get up in the morning. The nightmare still returned, of course, but it didn't seem quite so bad now that his energy was back to a certain extent.

Now Absalom found himself sitting in front of the TV, watching his favorite show, The Adventures of Disco Steve, while Mrs. Valasquez finished up all the baking she had begun early that morning which she would bring next door to the coffee shop which bought them from her on a regular basis. It didn't bring in much money, but her taking in Absalom for a time was helping to supplement her income -- Mason Templar always paid well for services done.

Absalom noticed that Mrs. Valasquez had been acting strange around him, though, and he worried about her. He wondered if she would hate him if she knew he was different, and whether or not she already knew. In any case, she tried to act as caring and motherly as usual, but it was awkward. Maybe it would pass. Grown-ups were difficult to understand sometimes, that was for sure.

Finally the sunshine coming in from outside was too much. The boy had to get out sometime, despite the risks. "Ma'am? Ma'am Valasquez?" he walked into the kitchen again and saw her on the telephone. She was talking too quietly for him to hear, and she finished whatever she was saying and said goodbye in Spanish, then hung up. "Who were you talking to?"

"Oh, jus' my mama," she said, averting her eyes from him as she said this and affecting a smile. Absalom couldn't figure out why she was lying.

"I'm gonna go out now, okay?" the brown-haired boy said. "I think Mason would understand. I'm feeling a lot better, and I can't be inside all the time, now can I?"

She looked at him with that caring and proud expression on her face which she'd had every time he began to be able to do things for himself again without help. It was nice. It was like she was a mother again. The moment passed just as quickly, however, and she answered him in a wavering voice, "O-okay." That was it. Just "okay." No questions about where he would go, or concerns about whether he was wearing too little or too much clothing. Just "okay."

Absalom smiled at her, a smile which she quickly returned, and he turned (catching a glimpse of her crossing herself) and went up to his room to get changed into some shorts and a T-shirt. She was scared of him. Why was she scared of him? Why?

He knew he had to get out of the house right now, if only to give them both some much-needed time alone. Maybe things would be better later on. He finished getting his clothes on, put on his sandals, and grabbed an old baseball-type cap that said "Valasquez Automotive" and the sunglasses he used when he arrived on the island with Mason. No sense taking any chances.

END INTERLUDE