Re: Betrayal, liz of desert 3 mature, CC pg 3 ch10 Nov 30
Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:09 am
Begonia 9508
Chapter 11
Liz:
Liz was traveling north. She came to the canyon, which she was sure was the one that Horsestealer had indicated. She wanted to observe without being seen. She drove her pickup back into the trees. She didn’t take any of the precautions that had been taken by the escapees or by Ed.
Liz wasn’t sneaking around. She just wanted to observe without being seen. Instead of walking up the canyon, Liz started the difficult climb to the top of the cliffs surrounding it. She had Hector and now, had her Glock strapped on her waist. The one shoot out she had been in, and where Liz was still not sure that she came out the winner, she had confronted so many men and monsters that she had to reload twice. This convinced Liz to carry four loaded magazines and a full box of ammunition in her pack. That gave her over a hundred shots. Hector was clearly uneasy. They had been on many hikes at Farmington and he, usually, enjoyed the outings. Now, he growled softly and kept very close to Liz. It was night before they got very far up the hills. Liz had a dry camp. Her pack had water for two days for both her and for Hector. He was wearing a pack in which he carried two days of dog food. Liz wanted to just see the place told to her by Horsestealer, she was not intending to disappear into the wilderness.
It was cool as soon as the sun went down. She and hector sat studying the stars and planning what they would do tomorrow. When Liz had been little, her grandmother had promised her that a man would come down from the stars and take her away. Liz knew that Max was that man. Now, Liz was planning, while looking at the stars. Her grandmother’s stars had always had the answers she wanted. Liz was looking for Isabel, but she was trying to justify herself also. She hadn’t talked to Max, but that one time, Liz had killed a man when they were fighting the drug smugglers and that was bothering her both intellectually and spiritually. Liz had been raised Catholic. She had married Max in a mixed Catholic wedding. Killing was wrong, but being killed was worse. Hector would just faithfully follow her wherever she went. For him, like Max, his religion was in the little woman.
Max at Farmington:
It was midnight when Max got the call. Tess brought the phone to his room. It was from Kayenta. “Mr. Evans, this is Thomas Charlie, sorry to call you this late, but I just got in and picking up my mail from the station. I found a note from your wife. Can I read it to you?”
Max was completely awake, “Yes, go ahead.”
“Max, don’t let him fool you. Joe Horsestealer speaks perfect English. He showed me a place where he says a woman ‘looking like Dolly Parton’ was being held captive. I am going to try to see if there is any truth in this. Get Joe to show you where the place is and get some kind of transportation and meet me. I will have the truck alarm on so you can home in on it. Love you and I know you are mad. Please don’t be.
Your loving wife, Liz.”
Thomas said, “Mr. Evans is your wife prone to doing things like this?”
Max swallowed, “Not in the last few years, but she pretty much did as she pleased before we were married. Can you get Joe to show you where he sent her and go with me back into the canyons.”
“Otis Begay already told me to not let you out of my sight. He wants that damn book finished. Trouble is, we still don’t have a truck and it will take a whole day to get one out of the agency,” Thomas explained.
“I will have a truck and will meet you as soon as I can get there tomorrow. Max hung up. Tess was waiting at the door. “Do you want Kyle to come with you?” she asked.
“No, but I want you to get the dealer we got the truck from. I need a fourwheel drive anything. Offer him one and a half times his sticker price and tell him not to dare change the sticker.” Max already had his pack ready. He had removed the medical supplies and put camping things in it along with a complete set of dehydrated food. Damn that Liz, but he knew that she was worried about Isabel. They all wanted to get to Isabel to see what happened. Would the alliances the aliens formed with the humans be falling apart?
Tess met him at the door. She had her ledger and the corporation checkbook. “He promised that the vehicle would be gassed and ready. You just take off and I will fill in the paper work.”
When they got to the dealer, they saw a neat little Landrover. That was not Max’s first choice. It was expensive and with the amount Tess had agreed to add to it, it was ridiculous. Max did not care.
When Thomas Charley arrived at the station, he found the Landrover parked in the drive and a sleeping Max behind the wheel. “Come on Max, let’s have breakfast. There is no way to get Horsestealer to be here any earlier than he normally gets here. We can eat and then, leave as soon as he arrives.”
Max didn’t feel much like talking. Thomas was apologetic, “Max, Shirley should have called me, immediately, instead of leaving that note in my mail. I am just lucky that I decided to pick up the mail last night instead of today.”
“No, it was planned that way. Liz was counting on Shirley not calling you. She probably said something like ‘no hurry, just make sure he gets it sometimes.’” Max well knew his wife.
Joe arrived and Thomas talked to him. He waved Thomas off and approached Max. “I told the little lady. She was pretty sure that this was important. Women don’t really mind like they used to, do they?”
Max looked at him, “Just how far back do you have to go to find the time when they did?”
Joe laughed and Thomas Charley, his shotgun, Max and, unknown to him, a whole passel of aliens sped off to find Liz.
Simon and company
Simon was pissed. True, it had been many years since he had been to that cave. But that asshole didn’t have the right to build a house inside his cave. The four escapees were on a cliff looking down on the cave in the opposite cliff. They could clearly see the structure in the cave. A tall man came out to watch the sun. When he turned, a woman was bent, looking like she was kissing his feet. He gestured to her and she stood.
Wow! Was she a looker! Tall, blonde and curvaceous, to men who hadn’t seen a woman who might be available for a long time, she was disturbing. In Simon’s mind, Vicente was already dead.
He was the only one who was sure to sample the beautiful blonde. Poor Arthur had been abused by the other inmates for so long, he just didn’t care anymore. Sammy had never had anything and he didn’t expect Simon to share now. Jace’s mind just didn’t work that way. Simon was already planning how his army was going to front the man below.
“Now here’s how it’s going down. That dude ain’t got no gun and he don’t seem to be the type to be carrying one. Sammy, you and Arthur will take the far left. Jace, I want you to work your way down as close as you can, and then, shoot him. I am going to take the right and, if possible, I will hit him that way.” Simon smiled His plan looked good. Even better, it looked safe for him.
Ed
Ed saw where Simon had left the canyon and was climbing the slopes of the hills surrounding them. He would have to be careful now. He was sure he had made up some time on the four. Simon was dragging three neophytes and they were lagging. Ed knew that as soon as Simon got where he thought he was safe, he would probably kill the others. Right now, Simon felt that other three would offer him safety.
Simon was climbing at an angle up the side of the hill, so Ed just started climbing at a steaper angle. This would bring him above the escapees. When he reached the crest to the hill, he slowly moved through the trees. Finally, he could see the valley floor. About half way down, he could see the four escapees moving toward something.
Ed took out his field glasses. These were Lecia glasses. Ed knew that there were many good field glasses on the market, but to lie in the sand for days on end, looking through glasses, they needed to be the best.
Ed was hidden in some brush and he decided to just study the men. He saw one hesitantly go to the right. He was letting the rest get ahead of him. There was one walking right down the center. Then he saw two on the far left. They were trying to use cover, but they were so amateurish, that it was amusing.
Ed couldn’t see what they were trying to attack. As he sat there, he saw a man come out of the cave. He looked long and hard at the man. He didn’t seem to mean anything to Ed. Ed began to move around. He wanted to find a good place to shoot from. He, finally, found a comfortable spot. He opened his pack and took out a loaded magazine.
Liz:
Liz was moving up one side of the valley. She was near the crest of the hill on one side. The other side was a sandstone formation that stood up like a monument to time. She was moving very slowly. If there was a cave, it would be in the sandstone face. Now, Liz didn’t expect to find a deep cave like the limestone caves back east or the magnificent ones in southern New Mexico. In this formation, she would find a hollow that would go back, probably no more than 50 feet.
Liz took out her field glasses, not near the quality of Ed’s. There was a dark feature up ahead about 300 yards in the opposite face. She glassed the land before the face. Then, she saw the four men advancing to the cave entrance. Liz surmised that they were the escapees, but what they were doing, she had no idea. Everyone seemed to just freeze. From her perspective, she couldn’t really tell how the men below were spread out.
It took over an hour before there was stirring from in the cave. Liz fine focused her glasses and lay there watching. A tall man came from out of the cave. Liz shuddered. It was the man she had seen when the Others had made her Isabel, The man in the picture she saw in the office at Teec Nos Pos. Liz couldn’t ever get over the image she saw in her glasses. The man turned and surveyed the valley. Even at the distance she was, Liz could feel his power, but she knew that was probably in her imagination.
As he stood, another figure came out behind him and bowed to the ground. Liz watched as the second figure just stayed in that position.
Liz swung her glasses back to where she saw the escapees hunkered down in the brush. Nothing happened for a time. Liz still kept wondering about the figure behind the evil man. The figure had not moved. Finally, the man turned and he made a gesture. The figure crawled to the man’s feet and then, she rose to stand with her head lowered. In time, she raised her face and Liz took a sharp breath. The figure was Isabel. Not the proud Isabel that Liz knew, but a subservient one who seemed to be almost the property of the man before her. Liz was searching her memory for his name. The sight of him had so un-nerved her that she had completely forgotten what was written on the document she had seen at the police station back at Teec Nos Pos.
Ed:
Ed was glassing the men below and also, the mouth of the cave. He hadn’t decided what he was going to do. There was something he clearly didn’t understand. He saw the men nervously shifting below.
Ed looked back to the cave and he saw the man just standing there. He saw the figure come out behind the man. She was bent toward the ground. Yes, Ed was sure, it was a woman.
Ed was reminded somewhat of being back in Afghanistan. The man turned and the woman rose still not looking at him. It wasn’t until several minutes that she finally looked up. Ed almost lost his cool. It was Isabel, the Captain’s missing wife. For several minutes, Ed didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of Isabel.
The senses, that he had built up in the far deserts, kicked in. He detected movement just outside the line of his glasses view. He quickly moved and saw Jace stand up, raise his rifle and fire at the man below. Worried about Isabel, Ed moved his glasses back to the couple standing there. He saw the man jerk; then, he saw him laugh. The man moved his hand over where he had been hit and looked right at Jace. Jace wasn’t that far away and couldn’t have missed. He quickly chambered another round and fired again. He did this over and over. The man was clearly hit, but with a wave of his hand, he seemed unhurt. Ed was watching him and he saw his eyes go dark. The man moved his hand toward Jace.
Where had Ed seen that gesture before? It was just like that night at the end of the smuggler’s war, when Ed was on the roof top and Max and Michael were hurling power blasts at the enemies storming the house. The man was a bloody alien.
Ed looked at Jace. Jace became a pillar of flame. The flame didn’t flare up. It seemed to slowly engulf him. Jace was screaming. Sammy and Arthur were now firing at the man. The man seemed to turn to Isabel and Ed saw her eyes turn dark. She held out her hand just like Ed had seen her do on her rooftop that night, sometime ago. Sammy and Arthur just came apart. Ed intended to get Isabel, away from this man, but what was he going to do? Bullets just were not that effective on aliens. For several minutes, Ed forgot Simon so absorbed he was in the fate of Isabel. He turned to look for Simon and he saw him just clearing the crest of the hill. Now, Ed would have worry about his back as well as what was before him.
When Ed was on the housetop at Farmington just as he was preparing his last magazine of alien-made bullets, the war had stopped. He had taken one bullet out for his collection, but the rest of the magazine was still in his kit. It was with the shooting things he had put in his present pack. There was only one way to see if they worked. He chambered a round and stood up and started walking. The man and Isabel idly watched him almost as if they didn’t consider him dangerous.
Ed walked as long as his nerves would allow him. Then, he shouldered his rifle. As he walked, he fired. He could see the bullets hitting the alien. The alien tried to move his hands to heal himself, but the alien bullets just kept coming. The man crumpled to the ground just as Ed was out of ammunition. He still had a regular magazine in his pants pocket, but no more of those fancy bullets. He looked at Isabel and with her eyes just black orbs. She was raising her hands toward him.
Ed had seen what she did to the two escapees. His only choice would be to shoot her. Ed remembered the night when he had slammed her down in the dirt as he picked off the assailants in the dark when they were trying to get to Albuquerque. He remembered when she was with Salas in the yard at Farmington. He remembered wishing she had a sister and then she introduced him to Bernadette. Ed wasn’t sure he could shoot her. She was the captain’s wife. He just lowered his rifle. Isabel remained standing with her right hand raised. Ed had no idea how they focused energy. He hoped she would come to her senses before someone, namely he, got hurt.
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Happy Holidays Christmas Gift # 2
Believe in the "Curse of the Cat." coming after the first of the year.
Chapter 11
Liz:
Liz was traveling north. She came to the canyon, which she was sure was the one that Horsestealer had indicated. She wanted to observe without being seen. She drove her pickup back into the trees. She didn’t take any of the precautions that had been taken by the escapees or by Ed.
Liz wasn’t sneaking around. She just wanted to observe without being seen. Instead of walking up the canyon, Liz started the difficult climb to the top of the cliffs surrounding it. She had Hector and now, had her Glock strapped on her waist. The one shoot out she had been in, and where Liz was still not sure that she came out the winner, she had confronted so many men and monsters that she had to reload twice. This convinced Liz to carry four loaded magazines and a full box of ammunition in her pack. That gave her over a hundred shots. Hector was clearly uneasy. They had been on many hikes at Farmington and he, usually, enjoyed the outings. Now, he growled softly and kept very close to Liz. It was night before they got very far up the hills. Liz had a dry camp. Her pack had water for two days for both her and for Hector. He was wearing a pack in which he carried two days of dog food. Liz wanted to just see the place told to her by Horsestealer, she was not intending to disappear into the wilderness.
It was cool as soon as the sun went down. She and hector sat studying the stars and planning what they would do tomorrow. When Liz had been little, her grandmother had promised her that a man would come down from the stars and take her away. Liz knew that Max was that man. Now, Liz was planning, while looking at the stars. Her grandmother’s stars had always had the answers she wanted. Liz was looking for Isabel, but she was trying to justify herself also. She hadn’t talked to Max, but that one time, Liz had killed a man when they were fighting the drug smugglers and that was bothering her both intellectually and spiritually. Liz had been raised Catholic. She had married Max in a mixed Catholic wedding. Killing was wrong, but being killed was worse. Hector would just faithfully follow her wherever she went. For him, like Max, his religion was in the little woman.
Max at Farmington:
It was midnight when Max got the call. Tess brought the phone to his room. It was from Kayenta. “Mr. Evans, this is Thomas Charlie, sorry to call you this late, but I just got in and picking up my mail from the station. I found a note from your wife. Can I read it to you?”
Max was completely awake, “Yes, go ahead.”
“Max, don’t let him fool you. Joe Horsestealer speaks perfect English. He showed me a place where he says a woman ‘looking like Dolly Parton’ was being held captive. I am going to try to see if there is any truth in this. Get Joe to show you where the place is and get some kind of transportation and meet me. I will have the truck alarm on so you can home in on it. Love you and I know you are mad. Please don’t be.
Your loving wife, Liz.”
Thomas said, “Mr. Evans is your wife prone to doing things like this?”
Max swallowed, “Not in the last few years, but she pretty much did as she pleased before we were married. Can you get Joe to show you where he sent her and go with me back into the canyons.”
“Otis Begay already told me to not let you out of my sight. He wants that damn book finished. Trouble is, we still don’t have a truck and it will take a whole day to get one out of the agency,” Thomas explained.
“I will have a truck and will meet you as soon as I can get there tomorrow. Max hung up. Tess was waiting at the door. “Do you want Kyle to come with you?” she asked.
“No, but I want you to get the dealer we got the truck from. I need a fourwheel drive anything. Offer him one and a half times his sticker price and tell him not to dare change the sticker.” Max already had his pack ready. He had removed the medical supplies and put camping things in it along with a complete set of dehydrated food. Damn that Liz, but he knew that she was worried about Isabel. They all wanted to get to Isabel to see what happened. Would the alliances the aliens formed with the humans be falling apart?
Tess met him at the door. She had her ledger and the corporation checkbook. “He promised that the vehicle would be gassed and ready. You just take off and I will fill in the paper work.”
When they got to the dealer, they saw a neat little Landrover. That was not Max’s first choice. It was expensive and with the amount Tess had agreed to add to it, it was ridiculous. Max did not care.
When Thomas Charley arrived at the station, he found the Landrover parked in the drive and a sleeping Max behind the wheel. “Come on Max, let’s have breakfast. There is no way to get Horsestealer to be here any earlier than he normally gets here. We can eat and then, leave as soon as he arrives.”
Max didn’t feel much like talking. Thomas was apologetic, “Max, Shirley should have called me, immediately, instead of leaving that note in my mail. I am just lucky that I decided to pick up the mail last night instead of today.”
“No, it was planned that way. Liz was counting on Shirley not calling you. She probably said something like ‘no hurry, just make sure he gets it sometimes.’” Max well knew his wife.
Joe arrived and Thomas talked to him. He waved Thomas off and approached Max. “I told the little lady. She was pretty sure that this was important. Women don’t really mind like they used to, do they?”
Max looked at him, “Just how far back do you have to go to find the time when they did?”
Joe laughed and Thomas Charley, his shotgun, Max and, unknown to him, a whole passel of aliens sped off to find Liz.
Simon and company
Simon was pissed. True, it had been many years since he had been to that cave. But that asshole didn’t have the right to build a house inside his cave. The four escapees were on a cliff looking down on the cave in the opposite cliff. They could clearly see the structure in the cave. A tall man came out to watch the sun. When he turned, a woman was bent, looking like she was kissing his feet. He gestured to her and she stood.
Wow! Was she a looker! Tall, blonde and curvaceous, to men who hadn’t seen a woman who might be available for a long time, she was disturbing. In Simon’s mind, Vicente was already dead.
He was the only one who was sure to sample the beautiful blonde. Poor Arthur had been abused by the other inmates for so long, he just didn’t care anymore. Sammy had never had anything and he didn’t expect Simon to share now. Jace’s mind just didn’t work that way. Simon was already planning how his army was going to front the man below.
“Now here’s how it’s going down. That dude ain’t got no gun and he don’t seem to be the type to be carrying one. Sammy, you and Arthur will take the far left. Jace, I want you to work your way down as close as you can, and then, shoot him. I am going to take the right and, if possible, I will hit him that way.” Simon smiled His plan looked good. Even better, it looked safe for him.
Ed
Ed saw where Simon had left the canyon and was climbing the slopes of the hills surrounding them. He would have to be careful now. He was sure he had made up some time on the four. Simon was dragging three neophytes and they were lagging. Ed knew that as soon as Simon got where he thought he was safe, he would probably kill the others. Right now, Simon felt that other three would offer him safety.
Simon was climbing at an angle up the side of the hill, so Ed just started climbing at a steaper angle. This would bring him above the escapees. When he reached the crest to the hill, he slowly moved through the trees. Finally, he could see the valley floor. About half way down, he could see the four escapees moving toward something.
Ed took out his field glasses. These were Lecia glasses. Ed knew that there were many good field glasses on the market, but to lie in the sand for days on end, looking through glasses, they needed to be the best.
Ed was hidden in some brush and he decided to just study the men. He saw one hesitantly go to the right. He was letting the rest get ahead of him. There was one walking right down the center. Then he saw two on the far left. They were trying to use cover, but they were so amateurish, that it was amusing.
Ed couldn’t see what they were trying to attack. As he sat there, he saw a man come out of the cave. He looked long and hard at the man. He didn’t seem to mean anything to Ed. Ed began to move around. He wanted to find a good place to shoot from. He, finally, found a comfortable spot. He opened his pack and took out a loaded magazine.
Liz:
Liz was moving up one side of the valley. She was near the crest of the hill on one side. The other side was a sandstone formation that stood up like a monument to time. She was moving very slowly. If there was a cave, it would be in the sandstone face. Now, Liz didn’t expect to find a deep cave like the limestone caves back east or the magnificent ones in southern New Mexico. In this formation, she would find a hollow that would go back, probably no more than 50 feet.
Liz took out her field glasses, not near the quality of Ed’s. There was a dark feature up ahead about 300 yards in the opposite face. She glassed the land before the face. Then, she saw the four men advancing to the cave entrance. Liz surmised that they were the escapees, but what they were doing, she had no idea. Everyone seemed to just freeze. From her perspective, she couldn’t really tell how the men below were spread out.
It took over an hour before there was stirring from in the cave. Liz fine focused her glasses and lay there watching. A tall man came from out of the cave. Liz shuddered. It was the man she had seen when the Others had made her Isabel, The man in the picture she saw in the office at Teec Nos Pos. Liz couldn’t ever get over the image she saw in her glasses. The man turned and surveyed the valley. Even at the distance she was, Liz could feel his power, but she knew that was probably in her imagination.
As he stood, another figure came out behind him and bowed to the ground. Liz watched as the second figure just stayed in that position.
Liz swung her glasses back to where she saw the escapees hunkered down in the brush. Nothing happened for a time. Liz still kept wondering about the figure behind the evil man. The figure had not moved. Finally, the man turned and he made a gesture. The figure crawled to the man’s feet and then, she rose to stand with her head lowered. In time, she raised her face and Liz took a sharp breath. The figure was Isabel. Not the proud Isabel that Liz knew, but a subservient one who seemed to be almost the property of the man before her. Liz was searching her memory for his name. The sight of him had so un-nerved her that she had completely forgotten what was written on the document she had seen at the police station back at Teec Nos Pos.
Ed:
Ed was glassing the men below and also, the mouth of the cave. He hadn’t decided what he was going to do. There was something he clearly didn’t understand. He saw the men nervously shifting below.
Ed looked back to the cave and he saw the man just standing there. He saw the figure come out behind the man. She was bent toward the ground. Yes, Ed was sure, it was a woman.
Ed was reminded somewhat of being back in Afghanistan. The man turned and the woman rose still not looking at him. It wasn’t until several minutes that she finally looked up. Ed almost lost his cool. It was Isabel, the Captain’s missing wife. For several minutes, Ed didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of Isabel.
The senses, that he had built up in the far deserts, kicked in. He detected movement just outside the line of his glasses view. He quickly moved and saw Jace stand up, raise his rifle and fire at the man below. Worried about Isabel, Ed moved his glasses back to the couple standing there. He saw the man jerk; then, he saw him laugh. The man moved his hand over where he had been hit and looked right at Jace. Jace wasn’t that far away and couldn’t have missed. He quickly chambered another round and fired again. He did this over and over. The man was clearly hit, but with a wave of his hand, he seemed unhurt. Ed was watching him and he saw his eyes go dark. The man moved his hand toward Jace.
Where had Ed seen that gesture before? It was just like that night at the end of the smuggler’s war, when Ed was on the roof top and Max and Michael were hurling power blasts at the enemies storming the house. The man was a bloody alien.
Ed looked at Jace. Jace became a pillar of flame. The flame didn’t flare up. It seemed to slowly engulf him. Jace was screaming. Sammy and Arthur were now firing at the man. The man seemed to turn to Isabel and Ed saw her eyes turn dark. She held out her hand just like Ed had seen her do on her rooftop that night, sometime ago. Sammy and Arthur just came apart. Ed intended to get Isabel, away from this man, but what was he going to do? Bullets just were not that effective on aliens. For several minutes, Ed forgot Simon so absorbed he was in the fate of Isabel. He turned to look for Simon and he saw him just clearing the crest of the hill. Now, Ed would have worry about his back as well as what was before him.
When Ed was on the housetop at Farmington just as he was preparing his last magazine of alien-made bullets, the war had stopped. He had taken one bullet out for his collection, but the rest of the magazine was still in his kit. It was with the shooting things he had put in his present pack. There was only one way to see if they worked. He chambered a round and stood up and started walking. The man and Isabel idly watched him almost as if they didn’t consider him dangerous.
Ed walked as long as his nerves would allow him. Then, he shouldered his rifle. As he walked, he fired. He could see the bullets hitting the alien. The alien tried to move his hands to heal himself, but the alien bullets just kept coming. The man crumpled to the ground just as Ed was out of ammunition. He still had a regular magazine in his pants pocket, but no more of those fancy bullets. He looked at Isabel and with her eyes just black orbs. She was raising her hands toward him.
Ed had seen what she did to the two escapees. His only choice would be to shoot her. Ed remembered the night when he had slammed her down in the dirt as he picked off the assailants in the dark when they were trying to get to Albuquerque. He remembered when she was with Salas in the yard at Farmington. He remembered wishing she had a sister and then she introduced him to Bernadette. Ed wasn’t sure he could shoot her. She was the captain’s wife. He just lowered his rifle. Isabel remained standing with her right hand raised. Ed had no idea how they focused energy. He hoped she would come to her senses before someone, namely he, got hurt.
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Happy Holidays Christmas Gift # 2
Believe in the "Curse of the Cat." coming after the first of the year.