Roswell Fanatics

7:35 AM Monday, Monterrey Elementary School, Roswell NM

Ms. Umbrage was a little irritated as she prepared the paperwork. It was all that damn Evans kid's fault. He SHOULD have been in a special needs class, and if that obnoxious mother of his had just signed the paperwork, none of this would now be necessary. What was especially galling was that now Monterrey Elementary would be losing Elizabeth Parker as well. How each school did on the yearly standardized tests was important not just for bragging rights, but for career progression for the principals of each school, and "the perfect Miss Parker" certainly dragged the overall average up considerably.

But Mary Umbrage's belief was that if you were going to get ahead in education, you could never EVER admit you were wrong. So Liz Parker would have to be sent to another school, '...all because those damn students witnessed the scorpions..,' and if it had even JUST been Kyle Valenti again...well, even that she might have been able to cover up as just another student sticking up for his classmates...but two students? ....and an actual fossil...surrounded by dead scorpions...? No, it was just too bad about losing the girl's brainpower for the annual tests...but both students had to go...Evans to special education...Parker to somewhere that she wouldn't run across Mr. Raff...or anyone else that could verify her story.

Fortunately...none of this was very hard. Principals had considerable discretion on how to hide their mistakes and in Ms. Umbrage's case, a fair amount of prior experience. She could, if Mrs. Parker balked, caution her on what a reputation for lying might do to her daughter's future academic success, and as for Mrs. Evans....she could almost hear it now...'Why Mrs Evans...I believe it's critical young Maxwell get special education...perhaps if he's successful there we can lose his prior records of assaulting and molesting his classmates...' She'd cave...parents always did.

But as she was hard at work at the computer, filling in the narrative for the transfers, Mary Umbrage gazed out the window at motion in the parking lot. The two cars had arrived almost simultaneously and there they were...Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Parker....leading their children toward the entrance nearest Miss Graham's class. Umbrage jumped from her seat and hurried out to cut them off. Sooner or later Miss Graham would likely know there had been scorpions found. She needed to keep either of the mother's from talking to her...otherwise the cat was going to be out of the bag....

Diane had figured that casually bringing the two kids back to class would get things going pretty quickly, and she wasn't disappointed when Mary Umbrage came hurryong out of the building to meet them, even before they had cleared the parking lot.

"Mrs. Evans...Mrs. Parker.....I thought I made myself clear...that your children were NOT to be returned to school until you had written instructions on where and when to return them.."

"I'm terribly sorry..." said Diane. "...but the children do need to get an education. We thought perhaps they could go back...just until the paperwork is ready." Nancy nodded her head in agreement.

"Well....no that wouldn't do...but come back to my office...I have the paperwork almost completed."

The two mothers shepherded their children to the office, following the principal and were soon seated with Max and Isabel in the conference room. It was less than five minutes before Mary Umbrage came back in to the room...signed the paperwork..and handed copies to both women. Diane Evans looked over the paperwork, smiling as she saw the cause for the suspensions.

"So Max is being suspended and then will be transferred after being cleared by the school district psychologist for molesting another student and Liz is being suspended and transferred for lying about inappropriate touching and lying for the purpose of concealing an assault upon herself...it that correct, Mrs. Umbrage?"

"That is entirely correct, Mrs. Evans. Here is the telephone number to call for an appointment with the district psychologist....I have already fax'ed him copies of the forms detailing your son's actions. Do you have any questions?"

"Well....yes," said Diane, "...would you care to hear about the charges against you?"

"Charges against ME?" asked Umbrage.

"Yes...first of all...making false official statements. These are state government forms...making a false official statement is a violation of the New Mexico Administrative code. You have put information in these forms that you know to be untrue. The penalty for that misdemeanor is up to $1000 per occurence. Then we have slander against both of our children....Deputy Valenti asked that we include Kyle in this too...that would be three more misdemeanor counts...with damages to be determined by the jury. Slandering three young innocent children could potentially blight their academic careers...perhaps their whole lives. I'm going to really enjoy making THAT case to the jury...and then of course.., said Diane, brandishing the forms, "...you put it in WRITING.
That makes it LIBEL. That too would be a misdemeanor....What is that now, Nancy...nine counts?"

"I believe it's eight, Diane. Kyle wasn't mentioned on these forms...."

"Oh well, we're just getting started anyway. Now where were we? Oh yes...then you directed the school nurse to perform a physical exam upon Liz...without parental permission. That constitutes assault and battery of a child...a class three felony I believe. Since you did it in coordination with the school nurse, that would likely add another charge to the mix....conspiracy."

"But...but I only did it because she had been stung by scorpions..."

"But...it says right here that Liz LIED about being stung by scorpions."

"Well...that's right...she LIED about it...that's why we did that."

"So you believe that Janet Reynolds is going to back up what you said....that there was no real scorpion attack? Gee, that's not what she said in this deposition..."

"Well...if the school nurse made a mistake...I mean...if Mrs Reynolds is now changing her mind...saying that there might have been a scorpion attack...maybe we could somehow ...make this all go away. We could perhaps just forget about the whole thing...?"

"Like you forgot to tell us that the scorpion attack was real...?" asked Nancy, " ...that Mr. Raff let you know about it on the phone at the very same time we were in the room talking to you?" asked an increasingly angry Nancy Parker.

"Oh yes...we do have his deposition on that too, don't we...?" asked Diane rhetorically..taking a copy of the notarized document from her briefcase. "I believe we even have some dead scorpions to show the jury at trial...ones that Mr. Raff found on the floor of the arroyo when he found this beautiful trilobite specimen."

Nancy was suddenly holding Max very tightly against her...almost as tightly as she was holding Liz. "Do you have any idea what it must have been like for Max to crush scorpions to death with his bare hands, Ms. Umbrage? And his reward for saving my daughter? He gets called a liar...a child molester. Do you have any idea of the hell you've put us through? What you let us put these children through?"

"Oh, she will, Nancy," said Diane. "Before we get through with her...she'll know exactly what hell is like. And we haven't even gotten to the serious charges yet.....36 counts of practicing medicine without a license...and of course the class-action suit for damages for every one of those kids who was inappropriately diagnosed with ADD."

"I'm not saying another word until I speak to the school district's attorney." said Umbrage, trying her best to show bravado...but scared half to death.

The conference room door opened almost at once, and in stepped Bob Peterson.

"Sorry...I was outside listening...sounded like my cue. Diane...Nancy...good to see you again."

"Hello Mr. Peterson...," said Liz, shyly.

"Hi Liz,....Max. Uh...why don't the two of you go off to Miss Graham's class. I think you'll find the discussion here kind of...boring."

Liz really didn't think so, but she could tell all the conflict was making Max uneasy. She grabbed his hand and pulled... "Come on Max," she said, "...this is boring..." even though it really wasn't.

When Bob Peterson had first come through the door, Mary Umbrage had been greatly relieved...but his easy manner in talking to Max and Liz...calling them by their first names...led to a growing apprehension about his loyalties.

"Mr. Peterson...you ARE on my side in this...are you not?"

"Well...not exactly, Ms. Umbrage. I'm the district's attorney...not yours. I will certainly look after the school district's interests...and certainly take your side in any issues involving your official duties as a principal...but most of these allegations...well, they are for potential CRIMINAL actions...and criminal acts certainly are NOT within the bounds of your duties as a principal."

"I don't understand...you must represent me.."

"No Ms. Umbrage," said Diane Evans. "Bob is obligated to represent you if a parent takes issue with something within your discretion as an employee of the district...but you DO NOT have the discretion as a principal to libel and slander our children...to lie about them...and what you have done to so many children...getting them classified ....stereotyped with a diagnosis they shouldn't have...a diagnosis that may handicap their opportunities in the future...Oh, the school district is responsible too...because their oversight could have been better. But this isn't about who has the deepest pockets. If the school district will just pay to make things right...pay for the evaluations to give an objective assessment that will rebut the diagnoses of the poor children...they'll be off the hook economically. The punitive damages....well you'll be paying those personally...and the school district won't be helping you."

"It was the pediatricians that made the diagnoses...not me.." objected Umbrage.

"That's not exactly so..." said Nancy Parker. "To make that diagnosis...you also need an assessment of problems in the academic environment. I've checked with several of the mothers of those children. YOU gave false data to the pediatricians about the children having problems with their academic functioning...you lied to them just as you did about our children. That's why the pediaticians made the erroneous diagnoses."

"That may not be entirely true," said Bob Peterson...," But at least that's the line the malpractice companies are taking in defending the pediatricians. They are laying the whole problem in your lap.....willing to provide their own legal resources to Mrs. Evans here to help pin the whole thing on you....and I must say...those resources are ...formidable."

The room seemed to be spinning around Mary Umbrage. Two angry mothers...and the legal counsel for the district telling her that he was largely going to side with the mothers.

"I want to talk to the representative of the teacher's union.." she said, "...and the union counsel."

"That's probably quite wise..." said Diane.

It was almost an hour later that the attorney for the teacher's union asked to speak to Diane Evans in private. They found a small conference room.

"Diane...you know the practicing medicine without a license charge will never hold up. It's a real stretch."

"Raymond...I've already talked to the District Attorney. He said he thought there would be no trouble getting an indictment."

"You can indict a ham sandwich, Diane...You know that. A conviction...well that's a very different thing."

"I don't NEED a conviction, Raymond...you know that perfectly well. The fact that there will be an indictment pending...well it will make the civil case for damages ever so much easier. Besides...it'll cost her a lot to defend the case...unless the teacher's union is going to pay to have you defend her...or you take the casepro bono...," she said with a smile. They both knew THAT wasn't going to happen.

Raymond Hutchins knew an angry mother when he saw one...or in this case two. He had two real choices...either suggest that Ms. Umbrage get her own lawyer...and face financial bankruptcy...or see if he couldn't swing some sort of a deal.

"OK Diane...I'll tell the woman the truth...that you can and will destroy her. Clearly...you are going to get your pound of flesh....probably a two for one special in this case. But you wouldn't be meeting with me at all if you weren't willing to make a deal. So what's the best deal you will make?"

"Well....go talk to her, Raymond...," said Diane, "...and if she's willing to deal...and the teacher's union and the school district agree to it...perhaps we can work something out."

There were only six people in the room...and three of them were lawyers. Mary Umbrage knew that she'd lost control early on...both of these mothers were out for blood...and the battle had been lost as soon as it had ceased to be an administrative one..a game she knew how to play all too well.

She'd had a long talk with the teacher's union representative and even her support had been shaky. But when the lawyer for the teacher's union started to speak to her...she suddenly felt like she was drowning.

• "Look..I'll tell you the truth...and I won't even charge you for it. You can probably beat the practicing medicine without a license charge...but it won't really matter. If you even get indicted it will cost you some money to defend it...but that's not the worst of it. Diane Evans will press the civil case...the class-action suit...using the fact that you are under indictment to get a jury to award huge punitive damages. And the word will get out...out to the whole community. When jurors are picked for the other cases...criminal and civil..they'll all have heard.
  If you get a change of venue...it'll cost you huge money when you lose...because of all the court and legal expenses. If you don't get a change of venue...well, that would be a liitle cheaper...but you then are dealing with a jury that's going to have heard of the case. They may say they'll be unbiased...but they'll still kill you on the punitive damages.."
  
  "How...how much could it cost to try the case..?" asked Umbrage. The lawyer for the teacher's union...Raymond Hutchins...just shook his head.
  
  "You still don't get this, do you...? There won't be A case...there'll be a lot of cases...probably a dozen or more. The woman doesn't CARE about the cost....she won't be paying a lawyer...she IS a lawyer...and whatever help she needs with the class action suit, the lawyers for the malpractice insurance company will give to her...because they need to be in her good graces. As for the other civil cases....it won't be costing her anything except her time and she...well she and Mrs. Parker are ENJOYING this. They're like momma grizzly bears....you threatened their cubs...and they are going to take great joy disemboweling you...then slowly eating the pieces. You have one chance...and one chance only...make a deal...and get her help to sell it to the local District Attorney..."

So here she was...facing the two women who wanted to disembowel her...scared just as scared as any second grader had ever been scared...sitting on the bench waiting to see the principal.

"Well..," said Bob Peterson, "I've talked it over with Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Parker, and this seems to be agreeable to them. The school district will pay for reevaluations of all the children referred for the erroneous diagnoses. Mrs. Evans here will lean on the malpractice insurance companies to cover the cost of any counseling or other treatment the children require as a consequence of their misdiagnoses....," he said, looking at Diane Evans. He had no doubt she could pull that off...the doctors and the malpractice insures were scared spitless of Diane making a public fight of this.

The Evans' and the Parker's agree to drop all charges...criminal and civil against you...contingent on you stepping down as principal effective immediately...the teacher's union agreeing not to contest this action or any other personnel action involving you...and you agreeing to accept a different job with the district...a job with no contact with students...at a rather substantial salary reduction....but a job at least that will let you stay with the district for the additional ten years it will take you to qualify for retirement...assuming of course that you perform your duties satisfactorily..."

"And my duties will be...?" asked Mary Umbrage...although she realized it didn't really matter. She was going to take the deal...whatever it was. As she stared at the angry faces of the two women across the table it was obvious she had no choice...no choice at all.


Bob Peterson was a happy man as he left the conference table with the signed agreements. The last thing in the world he'd wanted was an enraged Diane Evans on a legal rampage against the school. This would avoid that and...hell...the woman would probably be good at the job. In 1990 the contribution by the federal government to K-12 education was less than 6%of the total. These programs were, however, about 80% of the administrative burden of the school as good people burned themselves out trying to deal with the arrogant officious federal bureaucrats who managed these programs. If anyone could be as officious and arrogant as the feds...it was certainly Mary Umbrage.

"You know," said Bob Peterson..., "...this is karmic justice. Ms. Umbrage deserves to have to work with those federal bureaucrats...and they deserve her."

"As long as she never again has access to any children..," said Nancy Parker, Diane nodding her head in agreement. Finally they were at the end of the hall.

As they entered the room, the mother's went over to the table where their children were working together on some sort of a project...both mothers hugging both of the kids. It was only a few seconds until Miss Graham joined them.

"I guess I don't understand...the principal said that Max and Liz were suspended..."

"Actually," said Bob Peterson, "...Mrs. Hotstetter is the acting principal...and she's actually quite fond of her former students. Ms. Umbrage has left the school and won't be back today...or ever. Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Evans just wanted to say goodbye to their children before we go over to the courthouse...talk to the D.A.,... and do a little legal work."

"Oh!" said Miss Graham, her eyes widening. "Uh...what should I do about Max and Liz then..."

"Just take good care of them, Miss Graham," said Nancy Parker, tousling Max's hair just a little and smiling at her daughter.

"Yeah...REAL good care of them," said Diane, her eyes staring piercingly at the woman.

Chaves County Sheriff's Office, Search Rescue and Recovery Section, Roswell New Mexico

It was one week before summer vacation for the schools and Deputy Sheriff Jim Valenti was inventorying equipment and planning practices. He had been on the team for five years, and had just been noamed team leader one week ago when Jed Hargreaves had retired.
It was sort of an extra duty...providing extra work with no monetary compensation...but the feeling of returning a lost child to a worried mother of father was not trivial compensation in its own way...and there was never any shortage of officers volunteering to participate.

The hardest part ...both physically and emotionally was the diving. Never a happy job, the divers were invariably the "recovery" part of search rescue and recovery. But even that was necessary. The families of those who drowned in the few lakes of Chaves county were people too, and they needed closure when a loved one would disappear into the murky waters of the bottomless Lake State Park, or into one of the local irrigation canals.

With summer vacation approaching, Jim wanted to be ready. Ninety percent of the team's calls came during that three month period when most families took their vacations. This year he'd be the guy on the spot...and he intended to be ready.

But his attention was broken as he heard the PA come on...Deputy Valenti....call on line three.

"Deputy Valenti..."

"Jim..? Fred Ormsby here..."

"Fred.... It's been awhile. How are things in Santa Fe?"

Jim and Fred had been at the Police Academy together...not close friends, but they'd been through an experience that had forged a bond between them that was still present years later.a md

"Well, generally pretty good...but there is a little problem...and since it's coming your way...I thought I'd give you a heads up. You got time to talk?"

"Sure... go right ahead. "

"One of our local judges has approved a modification in the parole of one of our less-desirable citizens to move down to Chaves county. Officially...the guy's a level one sex offender...but there's a lot more to it than that.."

Jim understood the classification of sex offenders, although he didn't much care for any of them. Sure, there were a few guys who might have had consensual sex with girls who had lied to them about their own ages that he might excuse...but generally he thought that most sexual predators ought to be locked up for life. Of course, society didn't quite see it that way.

"Go ahead, Fred..."

"Well, the man's name is Arthur Jacobs......the first time was with a ten year old girl...he molested her physically...fondled her...but no actual penetration...no DNA evidence. He should have been locked up for that...or shot. But he hired one of our sleaziest defense lawyers...the guy worked the girl over on the stand in the pretrial hearings...she started to break down...the parents refused to let it continue. Eventually to get anything at all on the guy the DA had to let the guy plea bargain down to a simple assault of a minor...on condition he be registered as a level one sex offender. He got thirty days and two years probation. The second time was worse... an eleven year old disappeared from a public park... we had a brand new detective working the case who had a little girl of his own...when he was interogating the guy...well I've seen the tape...it was like the bastard was taunting him. The detective blew up...I would have too, probably, and started working the perp over...right there with the camera running. The perp spilled his guts...we found the little girl's body in shallow grqave...right where he said it would be...and this time we had plenty of DNA evidence but..."

"But the judge tossed it all out...every bit of it..."

"You got that right... I've never understood that....I mean what the detective did was wrong...but how does that change the reality? Why should some rapist and murderer walk because some cop screws up? Hammer the cop.....sure...but at least provide justice for the eleven year old kid..."

Jim Valenti nodded sadly, he understood the feeling, but that's just the way it was...any indication of police overstepping...and all the evidence from the interview was susppressed. He'd had it explained to him a dozen times in police academy and he understood it..and would never agree with it. But it was the reality he had to deal with.

"So he's moving down here?"

"Yeah, I'll send you a copy of his file.."

"Is he on an ankle monitor or anything?"

"Not anymore... the judge thought it would be too 'inconvenient' for him..."

"Yeah...well I'm sure we wouldn't want to inconvenience a fine upstanding citizen like that..."

"I'll fax you a copy of his chart....please do what you can".

"Thank's Fred...I'll put out the word. Hope it does some good...."

"Thanks Jim...say 'Hi' to Kyle for me."

"Will do, ..."

Valenti shook his head sadly as he hung up. But before he could dwell on it, the PA went off again.

"Deputy Valenti....call on line four..."

"Deputy Valenti...."

"Deputy Valenti...this is Mabel Gregs...we have another problem with your father....we took him on a field trip in the van with about six other patients and he...well he seems to have wandered off..... We're about four miles north of town....near the old road to Albuquerque."
"I'll be right there. I....I think I probably know were he is..."

4 Miles north of Roswell New Mexico

'Well, at least you didn't have to call the whole team out,' Jim thought to himself...as he saw the elderly man pawing at the side of the cliff.

"Dad....what are you doing? The people from the nursing home called me....you have them scared to death..."

"He was right here, Jimmie.... right here. Somehow he just faded in to the rock..."

Jim Valenti looked at the unbroken face of granite rock. He'd had geology in junior college...done quite well in it in fact. This rocks had been formed millions of years ago...deep in the earth, when quartz containing magma had hardened. He wasn't sure what it would take to penetrate it...but you'd probably have to blast it...and then the sharp fragments would be readily obvious.

"Come on, Dad....time to get back to the van. Here...Have some water...and keep your hat on...this would be a good place to get sunstroke."

"I've never been able to find it, son....that creature's hidey-hole. It's here someplace though."

Jim doubted that very much. He remembered the area had been searched years ago...after those two children were found...shaking his head as he realized those two children were now Max and his sister..and almost fifth graders. They'd found nothing resembling the lair of an alien...just that one other naked little boy. He wondered what had happened to him...he'd gone off to social services.

They'd gone about a mile down from the cliff when his father had gotten agitated again.

"This is where I first saw him....Jimmie. He'd taken cover in this little canyon..."

Jim looked at the narrow cleft in the rock where the small creek dribbled down from the seasonal spring. In a few weeks it would likely be bone dry.

"This is where he took cover...melted himself right into the rock, he did....right at this spot."

Jim looked at the depression in the granite...and was surprised. It's hard to erode granite...it generally cracks and flakes. It took special equipment...and a lot of grinding...to make granite into counters and tsabletops. But there WAS a depression there...an almost hemispherical indentation...as if somehow the granite HAD just been melted away.

'How on earth would that have happened?' he asked himself. But his momentary distraction had consequences...as he heard the rattle from behind him...where his father had apparently disturbed a diamondback sunning itself.

"Dad....get back...," he said, pulling the elderly man away. He'd pulled out his service weapon but...this was New Mexico. You made your peace with the fact there were a lot of venomous critters around here...you couldn't shoot them all....even if that wouldn't screw up the ecology...and it would.

He checked the trail ahead carefully, before helping his father down a difficult part of the trail.

"Come on, Dad," he said, as much to himself as to the old man who now was distracted looking at a lizard crawling on a yucca leaf,"....let's get you back to the van...before anything else happens to you.."

Twenty minutes later they were both back to the van...and to a greatly relieved Mabel Gregs.

"Oh, thank God you found him."

"It wasn't that hard. I'm actually part Mescalero on my mom's side. My maternal grandfather used to teach me how to track things through the desert when I was a little kid. But this one was real easy. I knew where he was going...he's done it before..."

It would be the last time this year that Mr. Raff would be at Monterrey Elementary teaching Science to the Fourth grade and even though all the kids were looking forward to the upcoming summer break, Liz and Max were going to miss their favorite class.

"Today I'm going to talk about some concepts in a field called physics." said Mr. Raff. "But since you don't yet know the math to really understand normal physics....., we'll start out with something a little more basic. Does anyone know what a law is?"

Kyle Valenti's hand went up. "It's something you can't do or my dad will arrest you...like going too fast in a school zone."

"Well,..." said Mr. Raff. "That certainly is one kind of law...but there are others. That's a manmade law....the type we are going to talk about today are called natural laws. And the police don't have to enforce them...they enforce themselves. Let me show you an example...."

As the cartoon started on the TV screen, the eyes of every kid in the class went to the screen. The roadrunner was the state bird in New Mexico but THIS roadrunner was clearly the most popular with the kids.

In fact...the roadrunner wasn't the most interesting character, his dialogue consisting solely of "Beep-beep!" and his primary attributes his speed and an apparent ability to defy gravity.

"Now really," said Mr. Raff. "gravity isn't like that. Even though he can run fast...the roadrunner couldn't actually go across the canyon there where the roadrunner used his Acme TNT to blow down the bridge....and when you see Wile E. Coyote run off the cliff...but not start to fall until he notices he's standing in the air...well that wouldn't work either....because like we said...the law of gravity enforces itself."

The screen then changed to a gaggle of brightly colored skydivers exiting from an aircraft.

"Now this is a sort of special case....gravity is enforcing itself...but the force of gravity is being countered by another force...the force of air resistance or...drag. Gravity can only pull so hard...and as the speed builds up, the force of the air resistance as these skydivers go through the air creates a drag. At a certain speed..the force of this drag equals the force of gravity."

"And then they float?" asked one boy in the class, as he watched the video of the skydrivers holding hands in the fall.

"Not exactly," replied Mr. Raff. "While they are sort of floating on a cushion of air....they are at what's called terminal velocity...they are still falling...going about 120 miles per hour. But they aren't accelerating...that is...their speed isn't changing, because the force of gravity is being matched by the force of drag on these people. They just look like they are floating in the air because the cameraman is also at terminal velocity. But the ground is still coming up at them....they can't do this very long. Now to land safely...they have to slow up even more. Can anyone tell me how they do that?"

"Liz and Max both knew the answer...but they had sort of an unstated agreement that they wouldn't monopolize all the answering in Mr. Raff's lectures. They waited a few seconds. and finally a girl at the back of the class said, "Parachutes..?"

"That's right, Lisa...parachutes. A parachute is just a big piece of cloth that catches the air. Because it drags so much air along when you pull it, when the skydiver opens their parachute... they slow up to about 15 feet per second...roughly 11 miles per hour down, rather than 120 miles per hour. If they have a square parachute like this one, they can manipulate the controls to land with almost no impact...by converting forward speed into lift. The older round parachutes...well ,they had to fall a certain way...to spread the impace widely over their bodies so they wouldn't be hurt. Now today I have a raw egg for each pair of you...and a bunch of materials...bubble wrap....cotton...some light plastic and string that we can make parachutes from. Your job in the lab today will be to build something that will enable your egg to survive being tossed off the school roof...without breaking. You may use cushioning material...make a parachute to slow your egg's fall...or any combination of these things. We'll see who does the best job..because like I said...the law of gravity enforces itself."

Thirty minutes later Mr. Raff went to the roof of the building and threw off the eggs, one at a time. Only three managed to get to the schoolyard intact, using a combination of a parachute to slow the fall and cushioning material to more gently slow the stop at the bottom. To no one's great surprise, one of the survivng eggs belonged to Liz Parker and Max Evans.

It was four days later that Nancy Parker found herself driving up the road to Anderson Park.

Most of Roswell was flat, but there was one serious hill on the edge of town, and back in the 1920s Grant Anderson had willed the property to the city...contingent on a park being erected on top of the hill in his name. The city fathers had dragged their feet for awhile...the hill was sort of steep...but eventually the WPA had built a road from the base to the top...employing Depression-era residents of Roswell who would have otherwise probably gone hungry...and with this assistance, the park had eventually become a reality. The road was slow with several switchbacks...but there were parking areas along the way where people could enjoy the view....and once you got to the top the view was pretty awesome. But it was a long climb...and there were other city parks. Except for a few hardy mountain bike enthusiasts, relatively few people came up to Anderson Park except on days like today...sunny days with just a little breeze...a day when it was one of the nicest places in Roswell...

As she reached the big parking lot at the top, Nancy spotted the bright yellow schoolbus that had brought Miss Graham's class up here for their end of school picnic. She saw Miss Graham over at the pavilion they'd reserved...and Diane Evans passing out hotdogs and chips to the kids. She'd brought the cake and ice cream...fresh from the Crashdown...as well as a couple half gallons of punch.

"Hi Mom" said Liz, as she saw her mother bring the cake and ice cream to the serving area.

"Hi Liz," said Nancy...noticing that Max was still backed into a corner of the pavilion...still not quite comfortable with his classmates other than Liz.

"Hi Diane," said Nancy, setting the cake and ice cream down. "What can I do to help"

"Cut the cake or scoop the ice cream...either one.." said Diane.

"I can cut it..." said Liz.

"Uh...no..," said Nancy. She realized that Liz was almost in fifth grade, but the knife was large...and sharp..., " uh...if you'd like to help, I have two more cartons of punch out in the backseat of the car. Why don't you go get those?"

"OK, Mom."

Arthur Jacobs had been sitting in his car in the parking lot for almost an hour...well, technically, it wasn't really HIS car, he'd borrowed it for the occasion....and the license plate as well, the latter from a car that was recently junked.

Arthur was aware that the police were watching his house...but by sneaking down the alley and stealing the car three blocks later, he figured he'd gained himself some time and maneuvering room...and with the Mexican border only an hour away...he really didn't expect to see the Roswell cops again.

He'd followed the bright yellow bus up from the school, calculating his chances. The park was on the edge of town. While it might take him ten minutes to get to the bottom of the road, after that it was clear saling to the Mexican border. So he had bided his time, and finally his patience was rewarded.

As she opened the door to get the bottles, Liz really didn't pay much attention to the car that pulled up beside her...other than to make sure she wasn't in its way. When the door opened..the man didn't even step out...just grabbed her arm and pulled her into the car. He was a large man...a strong man...but that didn't stop her from screaming.

As he reached to quiet her, she hopped in to the back seat and tried to open the door but it was locked. Before she could do anything else..the car accelerated and sped off...Liz backed into the right side of the backseat, just out of reach of the big man...screaming at the top of her lungs.

Nothing attracts a mother's attention like the scream of her only child. Nancy looked up to see her daughter being abducted and started to run toward the parking lot...a sickening panic building within her...knowing that the car would be gone long before she could get to her own car.

Diane watched the scene in horror...her eyes instantly going to her own child to reassure herself that at least he was OK...except he too was gone.
She spotted him finally...grabbing someone's mountain bike from them...then pedaling furiously in the other direction...toward the face of the mountain.

Jacobs was irritated...this wasn't going quite according to plan. Usually a quick slap would intimidate the girl...and she'd sit there blubbering in the seat beside him. But this one had surprised him...jumping over into the back seat...and with the winding of the road he really couldn't let go of the wheel..and as long as he was holding it...he couldn't reach her where she was hunkered down...screaming her head off.

He needed to control the girl...there was no question of that...and he'd come prepared. The roll of duct tape was sitting right there on the seat beside him. But first he had to get to one of the switchbacks below...somewhere he could pull over for just a few seconds...wrap the girls wrist...ankles...and certainly put some duct tape over that loud little mouth.

Max knew how to ride a bike...on the flat. Although his bike was indeed a mountain bike, it was smaller than this one .. and it had never seen a mountain. But it didn't matter, because she was his friend...and somehow even more than that..although he didn't really understand that. Besides...he'd promised her...promised her he'd never let anything harm her and while he wasn't sure just what that guy intended to do with Liz he was pretty sure it would involve harm.

So there he was...going down a dirt trail that must be nearly thirty degrees below the horizon...doing his best to maneuver with the trail...trying not to fall. He knew he had powers...but barely ever used them, afraid he'd get caught. He wished badly that he'd practiced them...they might have come in handy. It wasn't all downhill though...there were switchbacks that riders used to try to control their speed...and it was hard work powering through them...making the turns...the hardest thing Max had ever done. He almost fell a half a dozen times....but it didn't stop him. Because as he looked to his left...he could see the car moving...Liz's face in the rear seat right window. And what concerned him was that it was gradually moving right....even as he descended.

He wasn't going fast enough...it'd get to the next switchback before him and there was a dropoff there. The trail ended at the parking lot...he'd have to turn to follow the car down the paved road where it would quickly outdistance him.

As he reached the final switchback, Jacobs had had enough. The car skidded in to the empty parking lot and he was out in an instant... pulling the girl from the car with one hand while trying to wrap her wrists with the other. She struggled back against the knee high stone wall the WPA had built years ago ..the fear obvious in her eyes.

Nancy fumbled on the ground by the fallen cartons of punch...before she finally found the keys that Liz had dropped. By that time Diane was getting in to the passenger side, and with a squeal of wheels the vehicle took off, both mother's realizing the car had a huge head start. But when you are desperate enough....logic really doesn't matter. Your fears are enough...and the fears they had were more than enough as the car finally left the upper parking lot and went careening down the mountain.

Jacobs smiled as he finally cornered the girl against the low stone guardrail, quickly binding her hands with the duct tape, her feet...then pulling another piece of tape off to quiet her screams. But the fear that was in her eyes...it wasn't right. She was looking past him. He turned...even as he heard the movement of gravel behind him...just in time to get hit in the chest.

Max was exhausted as he reached the small parking lot...it had taken almost all he had just to get there. But he wouldn't quit...not while the man had Liz. He wasn't sure really if he would have even been able to stop...but it didn't matter...that wasn't his plan. Max knew that he didn't matter...that he shouldn't even be on this planet...but Liz was his friend...and he wasn't going to let the man hurt her. The man seemed to sense him and turn as Max leaped from the speeding bicycle...his hands reaching instinctively for the man's throat.

Jacobs was a big man...but even a fourth grader has a lot of momentum when he's going at thirty miles an hour. If the guardrail had been built today it wwould have likely been built higher...but knee high was considered adequate in the thirties...and as the boy's body struck his he tumbled over backwards...across the wall...a suicidal fourth grader clinging to his neck.

Perhaps Mr. Raff would have appreciated the elegance of the demonstration as the two fell almost 20 feet to the creekbed below. Jacobs achieved a velocity of almost 40 feet per second in the slightly more than one second before he impacted on the rocks. His head stopped in about a half inch as his skull ground his scalp into the rocks...about a thousands of a second at that speed, generating g-forces of over 1200 g's....substantially above what was required to fracture a skull...with force left over to disrupt the major vessels on the brain. He was essentially dead on impact.

Max had fallen the same distance..or very nearly...but he stopped over a distance of more like seven inches...as the abdomen and chest of Jacobs crushed beneath him. The distance bought Max time....about one-eightieth of a second... which made his impact forces near 90 g's. Ninety g's of impact are a lot...but in a supine position...and sustained for only about one-fortieth of a second...they were certainly survivable.

Max lost consciousness only briefly...for perhaps six or seven seconds...but he sure had the air knocked out of him.

When she rounded the curve...Nancy hit the brakes... and skidded to a stop only feet from where her daughter lay bound and gagged. Nancy and Diane werequickly at her side...unwinding the tape from her hands...from her feet....finally from her mouth.

"Oh Liz...you had us so frightened.."

but the look of terror hadn't left Liz's face. "It's Max..." she cried as she broke away to run to the end of the wall, sliding down a trail toward the creek bed on her buttocks...ignoring the scratches she was getting along the way.

It took her only seconds to get to them both...she ignored the large body that wasn't moving and looked at Max.

"He's not breathing.." she screamed up to them, as she put her lips over his to do mouth to mouth rescue breathing. But even before the first breath she heard him inhale through his nose...and saw the large amber eyes come open.

But the lips were warm under hers...and she decided there was really no sense taking chances...after all, Max was her friend.

It was almost a minute later when the two women worked their way down into the dry creek bed. They looked at the large still body with obvious distaste..but little compassion. Both halted when they saw the two children...Max still on his back..but moving all extremities and clearly not badly hurt.

"Liz," said Nancy, tears in her eyes even though she was suddenly fighting back a smile, "...I think Max can probably breathe on his own now...."

The small parking lot at the base of the hill was quite busy for the next ninety minutes as it filled with several Sheriff’s patrol cars, an EMT ambulance, a medical examiner’s van, the county District Attorney, and last but not least, vehicles driven by two anxious fathers…Jeff Parker and Philip Evans.

The EMTs checked Max out carefully, but couldn’t find much of anything wrong with him. They really wanted him to go in to the Emergency Room and be checked…just to be sure, but he seemed more terrified of that prospect than he had been of his twenty-foot fall. He huddled protectively behind his mother shaking his head quietly.

Even then they might have persisted, had not the young girl placed herself in front of the boy and angrily told them to leave him alone. Eventually the EMTs contented themselves with cleaning the scratches both children had incurred…Max as he’d rebounded away from Jacobs’ body after the impact, Liz as she’d run down the steep narrow trail to get to his side. They left after giving cautionary instructions to both mothers about how they could get follow-up help.

Much the same happened with the Sheriff’s victim’s advocate. Max wouldn’t talk to the advocate…Liz wouldn’t leave Max to talk to her either. Eventually the victim’s advocate contented herself in explaining to the mothers of both of the children the symptoms of post traumatic stress, and how to get treatment for them if they occurred.

The Sheriff’s Department kept the public away until the Medical Examiner had completed his preliminary exam and the Crime Scene Investigators had taken their pictures, then helped the ME personnel bring the litter with the body up the steep narrow trail. By the time the two fathers had arrived the impromptu meeting was just getting started.

Jeff had been terrified when he heard what had happened to Liz…but the terror became tinged with anger when he heard about the history of the dead man. He looked at his daughter…she seemed so small…and so did the small boy she was sitting next to…still screening him from the crowd of strangers. Jeff knew Max was shy…almost painfully so…but he’d been there for Liz so many times. Suddenly he found himself just hugging them both, shaking with emotion.
“The kids are both minors…. We won’t release their names,” said the Sheriff, “..but it is a small town…and some people will probably know anyway.”

“It really doesn’t matter…this case is closed, said the District Attorney.
"I don’t know if your son intended to kill this man, Philip, or if he was just trying to force him away from his classmate. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Accidental death…or justifiable homicide…that’s how the Coroner’s jury will find it. I’ll try to suggest to them that it was accidental death though…sometimes when you say homicide…well … people get the wrong idea. I wouldn’t want them to think that anything’s wrong with Max and well…” he didn’t say it, but he thought it, as he looked at the large body wrapped up on the litter, ‘..some people really do need killing.’


1:00 AM, The Parker Residence, Liz Parker’s room.

• Liz was surprised when her arm was suddenly grabbed by the large man and as he pulled her toward him the cartons of punch went flying, and the car keys fell from her hand.
  
  The man was large…and his grip on her arm was like steel. She was frightened…as frightened as she had ever been…and the look in the man’s eyes was like that of a predator who had just found his prey. Her mother had told her about good and bad touching…and the way the man was looking at her brought back that talk with her mother. As the man pulled her in to the car she knew that she had to get away…get away quickly. She was thrown into the passenger seat and reached at once for the door handle…but the door was locked. The man’s right hand reached out to grab her yet again and she knew she would never have time to unlock the door. She dodged the hand and leaped in to the back seat.
  
  Again the door was locked…and before she could find the lock the car was moving rapidly down the steep road, its wheels squealing as it turned the corner at each switchback Liz screamed…screamed as long and as loud as she’d ever screamed in her life. The man kept trying to grab her…but she kept just out of his reach. The big man swore at her…then tried to coax her to come closer. promising he wouldn’t hurt her..then lunged suddenly..almost grabbing her. He started saying terrible things - frightful things - about what he would do to her once he got her away from the park. She pushed herself harder and harder into the small corner of the car that was beyond his reach…screaming as loud as she could.
  
  As the car turned suddenly into the parking lot and the brakes locked, Liz was thrown onto the floor in front of the back seat. Suddenly the door was open…the large man grabbing her…cussing as he wrapped her wrists with the silver duct tape….ripping more from the roll to strap across her mouth. Liz fought back the urge to vomit as the man’s hands moved over her body…knowing that with the tape over her mouth the vomit would fill her nose…get sucked in to her lungs. He opened the trunk of the car and reached to put her up to place her inside.
  
  But as the movement behind the man caught her eye…her terror began in earnest. It was Max…speeding down an impossibly steep slope on a bicycle. She saw his face…it was almost like she could read his mind. Max was good at figuring out problems…and he’d figured out this one…he was going to leap onto the man’s torso…take them both over the cliff.
  
  She tried to scream, ‘NO! Max!’ but only a muffled whimper came through the duct tape. She wanted to tell him…wanted so MUCH to tell him ‘I don’t want you to die for me.’
  
  The man seemed to sense Max’s approach and turn…then they both were gone. She lay there alone on the asphalt of the parking lot, her screams muffled by the tape.

“No….no….noooooo!”


"Lizzy...Lizzy...It's OK, honey," said Nancy...cuddling her daughter. It was only a dream."

"I thought he was dead, Mommy..."

The victim's advocate had warned her there would be intrusive thoughts...nightmares of what the man did. Even though he hadn't had time to molest her...being manhandled like she had been...being that close to someone so evil was itself a violation. Everyone has a cloak of privacy ...their own space that causes them stress if it is violated and for a fourth grade girl to be manhandled like she was...it was only natural she would have nightmares. And in those nightmares the memory of the man might torment her for years. She needed to be reassured that all was well...that the man would never threaten her again.

"He is dead, dear...he'll never touch you again...It's alright..."

Somehow the reassurance didn't have quite the effect Nancy intended. She saw her daughter's eyes fly open in terror and start to hyperventilate.....then realization start to dawn.

"Not the man....I mean Max....when he went over the wall....Oh Mommy...I thought Max was gone..."

Nancy found herself comforting a little girl who was sobbing like her heart was broken.

"Max is OK, honey....Max is just fine..."