Roswell Fanatics

1:15 The Crashdown Break Room

Conceiving hadn’t been quite as easy for Nancy as it was for many others. They’d put off having children for three years ,,,then she’d gone off the pill and….nothing had happened. It was three years later…after a complete fertility workup, three months of fertility drugs, and sex scheduled like clockwork around fertile periods, that Liz had finally been conceived.

And never once in those three years…or the nine months that followed…did Nancy ever think that she would be sitting across the table from a not quite fifth grade daughter at 1:15 in the morning discussing ….well discussing what she was desperately trying NOT to consider her daughter’s sex life.

“I don’t think he liked the kiss….”

Nancy stalled for time, taking a spoonful of ice cream from the Martian Blast Sundae in front of her and putting it in her mouth…pretending to savor it. She remembered the scene vividly…Max flat on his back…her daughter above him with her mouth on his….it had appeared like he was trying to wriggle his way into the ground

“Well…he’d been through a lot….You probably just surprised him.”

Diane had warned her of the puppy love crush…and it wasn’t that she thought Diane was lying…it had just seemed so…so …so…early. She’d really thought that she wouldn’t have to worry about this until at least….junior high school, anyway.

“But..what if my kisses just aren’t any good.”

“Well…you are both a little young for this….and boys take longer to mature…you might want to just wait a few years….you really needn’t push things quite this fast,” said Nancy…not sure if she should smile or not. It was kind of silly for Liz to be stressed about this…but considering the day she’d had….

Liz took a teaspoonful of sundae…looking contemplative.

“Mommy…how did you know that Daddy was the right one for you?”

‘This is NOT happening,’ thought Nancy, shaking her head. “Lizzy…I think it’s way too young for you to really be thinking about serious plans with Max…or with anyone. Max is a good friend…and…and your mommy and daddy will never be able to repay him for how good a friend he’s been to you…but right now….well… neither you nor Max are really old enough…not ready to be much more than friends.”

Liz nodded her head. She’d sort of come to the same conclusion independently. But she still wanted to know.

“When you were a little girl…what did Grandma tell you…how would you know when you found the right one?”

And perhaps it was the hour…or just the relief that the conversation was turning away from an infatuation with Max…but Nancy answered without really thinking.

“My mother told me that someday I’d find someone who was just wonderful…someone who would be committed to me…put me above anything else…someone who’d be ready to give his life for me if need be…and then I’d know.”

The words hadn’t much more than left the lips before Nancy was biting her tongue…wishing she could pull the words back. She saw Liz get a far-off look, her eyes widening as she told the story...tears trickling down her cheeks slowly as she talked.

“I saw him come down the hill on the bicycle…saw him when he looked at that man. I could tell what he was planning. It was like when he does word problems…you can almost feel him reaching for the answer. But he didn’t know the man was going to turn, Mommy…didn’t know he would land on top of him. Max thought he was going to die, Mommy…and he didn’t care as long as he took that man with him. I didn’t want him to die for me, Mommy….when I saw him go over the wall…when I heard the thud and clatter of rocks when they hit the ground….I thought he was dead. And then when I saw him I was so happy….but when I kissed him he just seemed to try to pull away.”

“Honey…,” said Nancy, “..Diane has talked to me about Max…you know his history. Max has a hard time either showing or accepting affection. You probably scared him a little. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care for you…what he did…well his actions show…show that your safety and your welfare are very important to him…and if what you believe is true…,” and as incredible as it seemed, it was difficult to believe otherwise, “…in his own way…Max cares for you more than he cares for his own life. That IS a wonderful thing…a wonderful gift he’s given you…probably more wonderful than any other fourth grader has ever received from a friend. As for the….kissing and stuff. Maybe you’ll just have to wait for that…kind of like his mommy is waiting for him to understand just how much she loves him.”

Liz nodded her head…the feel of the pendant somehow warm against her chest. Max was her friend…and he really did care about her….just as she cared about him. He was worth waiting for…worth waiting an eternity for, if that’s what it took.

“OK, Mommy. Right now I guess we’ll just be good friends.”

“Being good friends is always important Lizzy. Even now, after all these years, your daddy is still my best friend. I’m sure if you give Max time…he’ll grow up and notice you. In fact, I doubt my beautiful daughter is going to have any trouble getting any of the boys to notice her.”

Liz knew that was supposed to be a compliment, so she smiled. But she also knew she didn’t want any of the boys to notice her that way…just Max.

1:25AM The Evans House, Roswell New Mexico

• As the bus drove up the steep road, Max looked out through the window...at the steep bike trails.. at the small parking lots at the little switchbacks in the road...at the vast view the hillside provided. But mostly he looked at her…that is…Liz. Somehow he felt comfortable with her sitting beside him...comfortable like he never really felt with anyone else.
  
  Max looked to the front of the bus where his mother appeared to be looking back at him....no...not at him, at them. She sometimes had a funny smile as she saw them together...a smile and eyes that watched them but somehow seemed to see beyond them as well...as if watching them at some different time...remembering...or dreaming.
  
  Max didn't really know how he felt about telling his mother about his origin. Years ago, Isabel and he had talked for a long time about their parents...and finally made a sacred vow....that no one...not even Mommy and Daddy...could ever know. But Isabel was unsure now. She'd been saying that maybe they were wrong...maybe Mommy could know....could be trusted. But the idea of that frightened Max terribly. It wasn't that Max didn't love his mother...he certainly did. He needed those hugs...the feeling of warmth they gave him when his mother and father would hold him close. He needed that more than he wanted to admit...even to himself.
  
  But he needed that so badly it frightened him that he might make a mistake by telling her and lose it … frightened him more than just about anything. And that was why, really, he could never quite bring himself to hug back. Because if he really admitted how much he cared...really opened himself fully to how he felt...and if she did find out he was ...different...and she no longer wanted him, he didn't think he'd survive. It was sort of like with Liz. He hated to lie to her…and he knew that by not telling the truth, he really was lying….but in a world where he knew he really didn’t belong…probably could never belong…her company made him so happy.
  
  As the bus reached the upper parking lot, Max scanned the area carefully. He and Isabel had talked many times about what their risks were, and they decided the greatest risk was the government. The government had the ship…or whatever was left of it, which meant of course they knew that aliens existed. But they denied it…so they probably wanted to keep it secret. If the government discovered them, it would probably want to keep them secret too…probably take them away like it had the broken pieces of the saucer…never to be seen again. He and Isabel were always looking for government agents, and when he walked off the bus, he spotted the man almost at once.
  
  The man was paying too much attention to the bus, and Max worried that he was a government man looking for him. But he quickly noticed the man was paying no attention to him at all… mostly he seemed to look at the girls. ‘Maybe he’s looking for Isabel…,’ Max thought…but he really didn’t think so. The car didn’t look like a government car and the license plate certainly wasn’t a government license plate and Izzy…she wasn’t even here, her class was having it’s end of the year party at a different park. In any event, as everyone went up to the picnic area, the man stayed in his car and eventually Max didn’t pay much attention to him.
  
  Max saw Liz’s mom walk up from the parking lot just as Miss Graham called to him. She wanted him to ask the other kids in the class who wanted cake..who wanted ice cream, and who wanted both. Max knew all the kids in the class, but he still wasn’t too comfortable with most of them…at least not without Liz at his side. He looked around, trying to find her, finally spotting her getting two cartons of punch out of the back of her parents car.
  
  When he heard the scream, time seemed to stand still for Max. He saw the terror in her eyes..the pain in her expression as the man tugged on her arm and dragged her across him into the passenger seat of the car. Max took two steps toward the car…everything seemed like slow motion. He saw Mrs. Parker start to run toward Liz…but his mind was already calculating. Liz was probably a tenth of a mile away from her mother…her mother would arrive far too late to do any good. The man and the car would be gone. The man was already in the car..and already he was accelerating. But if Max ran the other way…maybe…he saw the bicycle standing there…it’s owner sunning himself on the edge of the picnic area. He didn’t hesitate.
  
  It was only seconds before he was over the edge of the hill, the mountain bike accelerating quickly down the narrow dirt trail. He was going too fast…he almost fell a half dozen times, but to go any slower meant the man would certainly get away with Liz. Finally he saw the car, Liz looking out fearfully from the back seat. It was going too fast…it would certainly get away. Max prayed for a miracle..and his prayers were answered as the man pulled off the road…got out of the car…and reached in to the back seat. Max knew he could catch the man then.
  
  But his relief turned to horror as he saw the man grab Liz…bind her wrists…tape her mouth. If Liz were scared…if she vomited…she could easily die. And there was something evil about the way the man looked at her…how he let his fingers linger on her legs as he wrapped her ankles…
  
  Max shot across the small parking lot…watching the fear grow in Liz’s eyes. Liz was his friend…and this was her world…she could be happy in it…even if he couldn’t…but not if the man had her. He accelerated the bike, surprised to see the man turn… ‘He must have heard me…’
  But it didn’t matter, as he launched himself from the pedals of the bike…hitting the man in the chest. He would knock the man away from Liz…that was his only plan. Whatever happened then..she would be safe.
  
  As his fingers touched the man’s throat…he got the flashes…what the man had done to the other girls…what he wanted to do to Liz. Max’s mind recoiled in horror…his fingers closing around the man’s throat….struggling to find a way to make sure the man never lived to do what he intended. And so they fell locked together…Max above the man…doing his best to strangle him. Of course, you can’t strangle anyone in 1.2 seconds, and that’s all the time before the blackness reached up and claimed Max.
  
  Max awoke flat on his back…the wind knocked out of him. But he couldn’t see the man. Had the man recovered first? Gone back to get Liz…to do…that to his friend?

“NO,” Max screamed….,” NO! NO!”

“Max…it’s alright, dear, it’s just a nightmare. You’re home in bed…and everything is OK.”

Diane hugged her son tightly…feeling his little heart race with fear. She wasn’t really surprised. The victim’s advocate had warned her that with trauma like this there could well be flashbacks and nightmares. After all, Max had nearly died.

“You aren’t hurt, Max, the EMTs checked you over. But it’s normal to have nightmares...with what you went through to…”

“Why, Mommy? Why did that man want to do…that…to Liz?”

That wasn’t the conversation Diane was expecting…or necessarily one she was prepared for. She had hoped that Max hadn’t heard what the man had done to the previous little girls, but apparently somehow he had. In fact, she hated rapists and pedophiles…hated them with every fiber of her being. In law school she’d taken an elective with a sex-crimes unit, and the things she’d seen while preparing cases to prosecute had totally sickened her. All lawyers were expected to do some pro bono…that is, free work for indigent clients, and Diane did more than her share. But she had warned the judges that they should never put her on as defense counsel for such a case…because she was just not objective about those crimes.

It would be hard enough to explain to any fourth grade boy about what makes pedophiles and rapists tick, it wasn’t like there was unanimity of opinion on the matter. But while Max was bright enough….socially he was well behind his peers.

‘How on earth can I explain this to Max?’ she asked herself.

"Max...I don't really know what to tell you about ...people... like that."

Max could hear the revulsion in his mother's voice...that itself told him a lot.

"I don't know that anyone knows the answer to your question, Max. But I can tell you my guesses...."

That seemed reasonable to Max. He had learned a lot about...things...from books, but most of what he knew about people he'd learned from his mother... she seemed to know everything about them.

"Max,...I don't know what makes people like that man... maybe they aren't brought up right...maybe their parents never taught them right from wrong when they were very young...maybe they are just born some kind of inhuman monster, I don't know..., but ...well ... they get impulses that they just can't control...or won't control...."

She wanted to say more.... she wanted to say that it wasn't just about the sex...not even mainly about the sex, that it was about power, and sadism, and demeaning what's good and innocent in someone else to somehow make yourself seem better...but how do you say something like that to a fourth grader...particularly to one as immature as Max?

"Oh...," said Max.

Diane tousled his hair, and hugged him again...sighing sadly as he gave no indication of returning her hug. She kissed him on the cheek and smiled sadly.

"Go back to sleep, honey. And if you have another nightmare..just call out...I'll be here. Or if you'd like, you can come snuggle down with Mommy and Daddy...?"

She could tell that wasn't going to happen...hadn't happened for years. She turned his nightlight low, and walked slowly back to the master bedroom.

In the darkened bedroom, Max was lost in thought. He WAS an inhuman monster...he'd always known that. And when Liz had tried to help him breathe...

• He had been struggling to draw a breath...needing to get up...to find the man...to finish him before he could do ...that...to Liz. And then she was there...
  
  "He's not breathing.." she screamed ... then put her lips over his...

• Suddenly he felt the warmth of her lips on his...the smell of her body against him...felt the gentle weight of her breasts pressing against his chest...the warmth going out into his face...traveling down into his stomach...and below. He felt his body responding to her...felt his breathing start...felt the warmth become like liquid fire...overwhelming him.
  
  He struggled to back away...unsure just what was happening to him...feeling his body start to do things of its own volition...things it had never done before...but all he could think of was her against him...the warmth of her...and how her chest felt so soft against his ...and of how difficult it was to control his thoughts and his body when she was so close.

He lay in the darkness, afraid and ashamed...too scared to talk to anyone about this. Liz had just been trying to help him..trying to save his life, and he'd lost control of his impulses... Was this how it started with that man? He'd never had anyone to teach him when he was very young....just an empty lonesome pod. Could he someday lose control like that man did? Want to do horrible things to Liz like the man had?

'No,' he screamed inside of his head. He couldn't hurt Liz...he would never hurt her. Whatever had happened to that man...he'd never let it happen to him...even if he was an inhuman monster...even if he had to keep away from her forever.

1:15 PM Monterrey Elementary School, Roswell New Mexico

The last day of any school year is never very productive academically, but there were certainly a lot of housekeeping chores to do. Books were turned in, summer reading assignments given to the older grades, packages of the younger children's work were gathered together to take home...most to wind up pinned to the refrigerator door before evening...and then of course there were report cards to be handed out. There wasn't even a lunch served, since school would be officially over at 1:30. That left only the noon awards assembly... held in the otherwise unused cafeteria, where the new principal Mrs. Hotstetter seemed to find words of praise and some kind of awards certificate for every student no matter how otherwise undistinguished. The science award went to Liz Parker...as usual, although Max was a very close second. He got a special citizenship award, the faculty having heard the story from Miss Graham...they understood what had happened, even if the newspaper had kept the details from the public. The awards assembly had finished at 1PM, the last item being to hand out to all the children spiral bound books containing a compilation of all the class pictures. It was only a few dozen pages...nothing like a high school yearbook, but it was a tradition at the elementary school...as was letting the kids out a half hour early so they could all sign one another's books.

Liz was passing her picturebook around to be signed by all her friends...and feeling just a little bit lonesome. She hadn't been near Max hardly all day. It had started when she'd gotten to school and gone in to the girl's bathroom. The problem was Pamela Troy. Somehow she'd heard about the kiss the day before, and had started taunting her about having a boyfriend. And that wouldn't have even been so bad...especially if it really had been true, because she'd pretty well decided that boys didn't have cooties...at least not Max, anyway, but she'd been afraid of what would happen if she got near Max and he heard Pam's taunting. Liz figured her mother was right...girls did mature quicker than boys, and she'd really made Max feel uncomfortable yesterday...a poor way to thank him for almost dying for her. Besides, ..her mother said that she and Diane Evans would pick both of them up at 1:30 and take them for a root beer float and a milkshake at the Crashdown, to celebrate the end of school. Perhaps she would have time there to show him how she felt...without scaring him TOO much.

Max was in the corner of the play yard, sitting on a swing. He still felt uncomfortable about the other children..although a few from his class had stopped by and gotten him to sign their picture books. He'd managed to stay away from Liz, pretty much the whole day. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he didn't really trust himself either. He decided it was just better he take no chances until his mother came to take him and Izzy home.

As Jim Valenti pulled up in the parking lot he saw that the kids were all exchanging autographs and he held back, happy to let Kyle have these last few minutes with his classmates, some of whom he wouldn't see again until Spring. A policeman's practiced eye takes in a lot of things, and one of the reason they wear sunglasses is so they can look at everyone without appearing to be rude. As he saw Amy DeLuca step from her car, he was glad he was wearing them, because his eyes just feasted on her...she looked sweeter than a slice of Men in Blackberry pie. It was funny really. He knew her story, sort of a wild kid ultra liberal new age kind of girl, he wouldn't have guessed she would have done well as a single mom. But when Maria's father had dumped the both if them and run off, Amy had made Maria her number one priority, and worked her heart out making a good life for them. Kyle's mom had seemed more of a candidate for mother of the year...at least when he was courting her. But she had tired of motherhood...and being a wife...and Roswell New Mexico...quite quickly. The divorce papers had come in the mail as he was doing his best to keep working and take care of Kyle, and the last he had heard of the woman was that she was seeking 'self fulfillment' in the beds of most of the beach bums in Malibu. He wondered what it would be like for Kyle to have a real mother..like Amy...and perhaps the thoughts weren't totally for Kyle's benefit, the bright scoop neck blouse she was wearing above her shorts allowed him to see a fair amount of very lovely looking cleavage. 'Thank goodness for the sunglasses,' he thought..trying not to drool. He still relished the memory of arresting her at that sit-in, 'God she was cute...'

As Deputy Valenti saw the boy, sitting alone and obviously lost in thought out on the swing, he sensed immediately something was wrong, and he immediately figured out what it was. Of course, he was absolutely wrong...but that would turn out not to matter. Sometimes good intentions wind up being all it takes.

Jim Valenti had been a rookie only four months out of police academy when he first had to kill someone. He'd been teamed with another patrolman, someone highly experienced. And it had seemed like a routine traffic stop...the guy had only been doing nine miles an hour over the speed limit...not a lot in the wide open spaces of New Mexico. Heck, his partner had gotten out the book of warning tickets...he was just going to tell the man to take it easy, since he had a young lady in the car. But as he'd approached the car his partner's eyes had strayed to the young lady...rather than continuing to watch the driver, and by the time he realized the young lady's wrists were bound and looked back at the driver he barely had time to see the two shots fired, one hitting him in the right arm, the other squarely in the middle of his chest...fortunately in the ceramic plate of his Kevlar armor. Jim had fired twice through the back window without even consciously thinking about it as his partner was falling...the man hadn't lived to go to trial. It had been what the cops called a righteous shooting, even the civilian review board had commended him for saving his partner's life, but even so....Jim Valenti had experienced nightmares for the next three months. It wasn't easy to be judge, jury, and executioner,...even when you were a cop with training and people to tell you you did the right thing. 'How rough must it be to have to do something like that as a little boy,' Jim wondered. Kyle had told him that Max was shy...sort of withdrawn. That had to make what he went through super tough. The kid probably hadn't been exposed to a lot of bad people....probably didn't even know what sort of a bastard that Jacobs was..or what he'd done to those little girls. No, Jim wasn't the police psychologist...but he knew what he'd been through...and he wanted to help.


"Hi, Max.."

Max was wary when he looked at Deputy Valenti. Deputy Valenti was part of the government...but he was also Kyle's father. Kyle was a friend of Liz..and was nice to him, too. Maybe his daddy wasn't all that bad....

"Hello,..."

"Max...about what happened yesterday...I want you to know that it's normal for you to be upset.."

"It is..?"

"Yeah,.. Max. I'm not sure you understand what kind of a person Jacobs was....what kind of a thing he was..."

"I...I...I know what he wanted to do to Liz..."

"Well Max, if you do understand that...then you ought to realize that you did what you had to do. I know it's hard what you did...it's not easy to kill someone...but he wasn't really a human being, Max....not like you and me. Guys like that are worse than animals....much worse."

"My Mommy siad he couldn't control his impulses..."

Jim Valenti smiled sadly. It wasn't that he didn't like lawyers, and the Evans' seemed like nice enough people, but cops really didn't believe in all that psychobabble crap. He'd heard it all...diminished responsibility, born into a world they didn't make,...oppositional defiance disorder...it was all bullshit...just excuses people came up with.. or their lawyers and shrinks came up with for them... to avoid responsibility for their own actions.

"Max...your Mom and Dad are good people and probably believe that, but...well I'm just a street cop,...and I'm telling you that that's sort of bullshit. We ALL get impulses...probably even you. If you haven't had them by now I can pretty much guarantee you will by junior high school, but there's a big difference between guys like you and me and guys like Jacobs, and that's that we don't act selfishly on our impulses. Take yourself for example, right out there in that playground with that dog. The natural impulse would have been for you to run...but you didn't. You protected Liz. The same thing yesterday, your natural impulse sure wasn't to throw yourself off some cliff... anymore than it was to kill that man. But you did what you had to do. Jacobs cared only about himself...guys like that are incapable of caring for someone else..other people are just something to use. People like us...we could never do something like Jacobs wanted to do...not in a million years. We are protectors...not users. People like him...well, they aren't really people at all.... so I don't want you to beat yourself up worrying about whether or not you did the right thing, OK? You only did what you had to do."

"Do you ever get...impulses?" asked Max.

Jim Valenti was briefly distracted as Max asked the question. Amy DeLuca had been holding Maria's certificate...best vocalist in the Fourth Grade music program...and it had slipped through her fingers. As she bent over to retrieve it she was facing away from everyone but Jim and Max, and as she bent forward the scoop neck briefly revealed a truly impressive amount of cleavage...

"Oh YEsssss.." said Jim Valenti...more in response to what he was looking at than anything that Max was saying at the moment.

Max was standing at the Deputy's side, and his eyes rather easily followed the line of sight of the Sheriff. He quickly looked away, stifling a giggle. Apparently Kyle's dad did indeed get impulses too. But he was a good guy...good with Kyle...and everyone trusted him. Maybe he was right...maybe guys like him and Deputy Valenti were very different from the evil thing that was Jacobs...even if they all did have....impulses.

"What were you saying Max? I was kind of distracted."

"I was...well, it doesn't matter. Thank you for talking to me Deputy Valenti."

"Any time, Max..., anytime at all..."

Twenty-five minutes later they were at the booth in the Crashdown.

Max smiled tentatively at Liz. So far, so good. No...impulses at all.


"Max...you always get a milkshake. You should try a root beer float...they're real good."

"OK.."

She returned shortly with a huge glass of root beer float....and two straws. Suddenly he found himself nose to nose with her...the smell of her strawberry shampoo in his nostrils...her eyes twinkling inches from his.

'Everyone gets impulses,' he told himself, '...and some of them are quite nice...'

At the other booth Nancy looked at her daughter and then looked at Diane Evans...fighting to keep a straight face.

"Liz can be quite persistent.." said Diane, trying not to laugh.

"She can indeed," said a smiling Nancy Parker.

That summer…the one between fourth and fifth grades…was the best summer that Liz ever had in elementary school. The friends she spent most of her time with were still Maria and Alex…that part hadn’t changed. Max was still too shy to put up with anyone but Liz. But twice a week…on Saturday mornings when Diane and Nancy got together at the Crashdown, and on Wednesdays when both Alex and Maria were tied up all day in music camp…those were the times that she and Max had to be together.

Wednesdays became their day. Usually they would bicycle together to the library..or sometimes go swimming in the public pool. But it was the sixth week of summer vacation that Nancy caught Liz in the kitchen of the Crashdown…putting together a picnic for two.

“I take it you and Max are going on a picnic?” she asked.

“Yes…I thought it would be nice. We are just going to the park…Oh, there he is now.”

Nancy saw the young boy ride up. The mountain bike still looked too big for him…just like Lizzy’s did for her.

“What park…and when will you be back?”

“Oh…it shouldn’t take over three hours..”

“Three hours for a picnic?”

“Well…it will take us a half hour to bicycle to the bottom of Anderson park…almost that long to bicycle to the top…it’s low gear all the way…if we can get by without just waking the bikes that is. But coming down after we finish the picnic should be fast…”

Nancy didn’t really hear the door open or Max come in…her mind was still in shock…flashing back to that horrible day when she saw her only child being abducted and she was helpless to stop it.”

“Uh…Lizzy, I don’t think you should go there…”

“Why not? We go to other parks?”

“well it’s just that…well,…” How do you tell your only child that you know it’s summer…and that Roswell is pretty safe, notwithstanding what happened that day…but you just can’t bring yourself to let her go there again? To a place with such horrible memories. Nancy was struggling for the words when she felt the touch on her hand…and looked down into the large amber eyes of the small boy.

“It’s OK Mrs. Parker….I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Liz…”

It was a ridiculous statement, of course…made by someone who was emotionally even younger than Liz. Someone who clearly was little better equipped than she was to assure the safety of her only child…except he had. She looked down into those innocent eyes and realized that Max had protected her…again and again. Max had risked his life for her…he’d killed for her.

What kind of a fifth grade friend risks his life for your daughter? But even that was more explainable than the other. What kind of shy little boy can bring himself to kill to save his friend? She had talked to Liz…listened to her fears about that day…and her greatest fear had been that Max was sacrificing his life for her. And perhaps it happened so fast that he really didn’t realize what he was doing…but Liz was sure that he did.

Nancy knew it was silly for her to worry about Liz going to Anderson park… Jacobs was dead…his body cremated and the ashes buried by the county…his own relatives hadn’t wanted them. And likely it was even sillier for her to feel reassured because her not quite fifth grade friend reassured her that he’d care for Liz…but somehow she WAS reassured. Somehow, deep in her heart, something told her Max really wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Liz.

“Well…alright I guess. Watch for traffic and….well call if you are going to be any later than 2:30.”

“OK, Mom…”

“Goodbye Mrs. Parker.”

“Goodbye honey….goodbye Max.”

2:15 PM The Crashdown Cafe, Roswell New Mexico

Nancy had been sure that she was going to worry every minute about Liz being at Anderson park...but somehow it hadn't worked out that way.When she saw her daughter and Max come through the back door of the Crashdown together she was somewhat shocked to find that she really hadn't worried about Liz at all. And she tried to tell herself it wasn't because the small boy had looked up at her with those soulful eyes and promised her he'd take care of Liz...but as stupid as it sounded, she was pretty sure that was EXACTLY why she hadn't worried.

"Mom...is it OK if I fix a drink for us? It was a long bicycle ride..and really warm."

"Sure honey...go ahead and fix a root beer float."

Her daughter looked up at her, her eyes sparkling happily. "It's a milk shake this time...I think Max likes them better."

As Max went out and sat in their regular booth, Nancy watched Liz make the milkshake...a rather large one...with two straws.

Nancy shook her head and poked Jeff on the arm, pointing to the two kids in the booth.

"Well," said Jeff, "..if I had to guess, I'd guess that our daughter has had a very good day..."

"That's sort of what I'm thinking too," said Nancy.


A week later, Bottomless Lakes State Park, 15 miles from Roswell New Mexico

Sometimes Isabel was a difficult read... other times you could almost read her mind. She wasn't exactly hostile to Liz, but it was clear that she thought that Max spent too much time thinking about the girl. That had been obvious to Diane from the moment they'd picked her up a half hour ago at the Crashdown. Still, little Liz was Max's only real friend and when she'd offered to take the kids to Bottomless Lakes and Izzy had been all for it and Max had sort of held back...not wanting to miss a library date with Liz...calling Nancy and inviting Liz to come too had seemed like a reasonable compromise. Still, Diane figured she may have underestimated Izzy's concern about how great a hold Liz seemed to have on Max. Her staring was getting almost to the point of rudeness.

"Uh...Max, Liz...why don't you go down to the beach. Isabel...help me set up the picnic table for a minute..."

As soon as the other two were gone it was time for a mother-daughter chat. "OK Isabel, spill it...what's the matter?"

Isabel's bonding with her mother was actually pretty good. She really didn't have many secrets from her mother, but one of the ones she did have was...well, pretty big. And it sure didn't seem like a good time or place to go in to that one. So while she didn't really lie...she didn't exactly tell the whole truth either.

"It's just that.....well, I think it's good than Max has a friend, Mom. But I sometimes wonder....shouldn't he have MORE than one friend. Maybe he's seeing too much of Liz. Maybe you should make him see other people instead...."

And even though that was just Isabel's way of hoping her mother would break up Max and Liz before they got too close, it wasn't an idea that was altogether new to Diane. She and Philip had talked about it on several occasions. They had nothing against Liz...she was a totally delightful young girl, but they really did wish for Max to have more friends. But he seemed so happy when he was with her...and Max so seldom seemed happy any other time, they just couldn't bring themselves to do it.

"Honey...they really only see each other on Wednesdays...and for forty-five minutes or so on Saturdays when I have tea with Mrs. Parker. It's not that he doesn't have time for other people, he's just shy. I'm sure he'll grow out of it eventually."

Diane avoided saying what she was really thinking. Isabel had lots of friends...all superficial and shallow. Max had just the one...who she figured cared for him more than the poor naive boy really understood. She wished that somehow her two children could have averaged it all out, each with a half dozen reasonably close friends. 'But if wishes were horses then beggars would ride...,' Diane thought.

"Just be nice to her...OK? She's company."

"OK, Mommy," Isabel said in a resigned tone.



Deputy Jim Valenti was at the water's edge, preparing for the exercise. "OK, we are going to keep in teams of two. Deputy Hargreaves has already gone out and planted the mannequin at some point in the lake. We will search in two man teams..going over our grid until we recover the dummy. This is only an exercise, and safety is paramount. Stay with your diving buddy. Any questions?"

"Yeah..I've got one..," said Rick Swaggar, "..why the hell we doing this at all? I volunteered for Search and Rescue to help people. By the time someone went underwater and they called us...and we got out here from town, that's be at least forty minutes. Nobody could survive for forty minutes underwater...they'd be dead anyway."

"You never know. People can get trapped in a car with an air bubble...or another diver might get wedged in to an underwater cavern or something. You never know when someone can survive...even if the odds seem against it. Besides, you volunteered for Search, Rescue, and RECOVERY, Rick. We aren't going to save everybody, but the people who are lost aren't the only victims. Recovering bodies isn't real rewarding work...but it's got to be done. A lot of times their friends and family don't get closure until they know for sure...until their loved one's bodies are returned to them. That's important too, even if it doesn't give us the opportunity to play the hero. Now anymore questions? Well let's hit the water then...keep in pairs, and keep to your part of the grid."

The exercise was done in less than a half hour and the team packed up their gear and headed back for town. Jim was the last and as he drove by the public swimming area he stopped and looked at the two children out on the raft. The young girl wasn't that great a swimmer, and the boy had tried to talk her out of swimming out there. But when she'd insisted, he'd gone with her...his eyes never leaving her as his powerful strokes matched hers...all the way out to the raft.

Some people were showoffs and jerks, Jim thought, like Deputy Swagger back there. Others....? Well, you just didn't expect a shy fifth grade kid to be so responsible...hell, most adults weren't even that responsible.

He was still in his swimming suit and it took only a few minutes to get out to the raft.

"Are you kids OK?"

"Max told me I shouldn't come this far, but...I got a little bit tired, that's all," she said.

It was funny, the role reversal. As soon as he'd gotten to the raft, Max had fallen back behind her. But prior to that...well it was apparent, Max was watching her every move...making sure she'd be OK.

"Well...if you are sure you're alright..."

"I'll be fine..Max is with me," she said.

Jim smiled as he swam away. Some day that kid would get over his shyness and start to understand the signals Liz was starting to send him. He wondered how long Max would stay shy, once that happened.

Well I lay my head on the railroad track
Waiting on the Double E
But the train don't run by here no more
Poor poor pitiful me

Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor pitiful me
Oh these boys won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe woe is me

Well I met a man out in Hollywood
Now I ain't naming names
Well he really worked me over good
Just like Jesse James
Yes he really worked me over good
He was a credit to his gender
Put me through some changes Lord
Sort of like a Waring blender

Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor pitiful me
Oh these boys won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe woe is me

Well I met a boy in the Vieux Carres
Down in Yokohama
He picked me up and he threw me down
He said "Please don't hurt me Mama"

Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor pitiful me
Oh these boys won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe woe is me

Poor poor poor me
Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor poor me
Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor poor me
Poor poor pitiful me

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

Linda Ronstadt

It was three weeks into fifth grade and Maria DeLuca had never been in this much trouble and it was all Linda Ronstadt’s fault.

OK, so it wasn’t entirely Linda Ronstadt’s fault. Maria conceded that she may have herself contributed to the problem just a little bit. In any event, she was in the principal’s office waiting for her mother at 3:30, 45 minutes after school had let out, and she could see her mother’s Jetta wheeling in to the parking lot and she didn’t need to be clairvoyant to know that the proverbial feces was about to hit the fan.

It had started out as a field trip to El Paso to the Museum of History. Her fifth grade teacher, it had turned out, had majored in history and thought everyone would share his fascination in the subject. And it wasn’t even that Maria didn’t think El Paso was a neat town, it was the nearest big town, and she’d always thought there had to be something better than Roswell New Mexico, and El Paso was clearly a viable candidate for that status.

Maria had read that Linda Ronstadt had a three day concert series in El Paso, but she’d never expected to be able to see it. Ronstadt was sort of a role model for Maria. Both were from the Southwest, and Ronstadt was known for something called torchy rock, a combination of pop rock and sensual lyrics. Ronstadt had started her career singing when she was fourteen, and Maria had some hopes of emulating that. So in her mind, it wasn’t so much that she was cutting class by sneaking away from the museum to go downtown and hear Ronstadt…and sneak backstage to ask her about what was the best way to become a success as a singer, it was more like….well sort of a career day.

Unfortunately this opinion was not shared by Mr. Dupre’, it was not shared by the current principal of Monterrey Elementary School, Mrs. Hotstetter, and Maria was pretty sure Amy DeLuca wasn’t going to go for it either……and she was right. In less than five minutes, her mother had heard enough.


“Maria DeLuca….you are in such trouble…You may be old enough to vote before you get over being grounded.”

“But Mom…..”

“But me no buts, young lady, go out to the car right now. This conversation is now between Mrs. Hotstetter and myself. You and I will have OUR talk later.”

Mrs. Hotstetter fought back a smile as she saw Maria go suddenly pale and quietly leave the room. She knew Maria had made a mistake…but still…it was hard not to like the vivacious girl who was always a standout in their music programs.

“I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of what Maria did,” said Mrs. Hotstetter as soon as Maria had left the room, “…but she is a pretty good kid too.”

“She should do better at school. If she applied herself to academics like she does to her singing and dancing….”

"I have an idea about that...."

Maria sat in the car...waiting nervously while the adults determined her fate. Actually, it was her mother she was worried about. Mrs. Hotstetter had been Liz's teached before she'd replaced Umbrage as principal... 'Thank God for that...' and she'd shown herself to be pretty fair in dealing with the students...of course she'd kind of had an easy act to follow.

No, Maria was mainly worried about Amy DeLuca. It was about a fifteen minute wait until her mother got back into the Jetta and started the car. They drove silently for the next two blocks...finally the fifth grade girl could take it no longer.... "I'm sorry Mom. When do I find out what my punishment is?"

"As I said...you are grounded, Miss,...for right now that's all you need to know. You will be grounded until I tell you otherwise. Don't even ask when that is..I'll decide that depending on how you behave."

That wasn't as bad as it could have been, Maria decided. If she was grounded she really wouldn't have much of a chance to get in trouble....sort of a self-limiting problem. But still, she needed to make a pro-forma objection...just to make sure her mother knew she was being punished.

"But...you already said I could have a sleep-over at Liz's on Friday night..."

"Yeah, well that was before you decided to scare your teacher and me half to death by disappearing in the middle of a field trip."

"Well, so what IS Mrs. Hotstetter going to do."

"Well I can tell you this, Maria. If you think you have it bad...you are soon going to have a new appreciation for what it is to have problems. You are going to be 'volunteering' for at least the rest of the semester....spending time tutoring a kid in the special needs class. An hour everyday after school... and that's only the start."

Maria had squirmed anxiously throughout the first two hours of class, not knowing for sure what was coming but expecting it to be pretty bad. Her mother had read the riot act to her last night, and whatever Mrs. Hotstetter's decision regarding her fate it was perfectly obvious she would get no sympathy whatever from Amy DeLuca.

It happened just before recess, when Mrs. Hotstetter appeared in the doorway and motioned Maria to follow her. She knew better than to protest as she was lead down the hall to the west wing of the building...toward Mrs. Arnold's Special Ed class.


Michael Doe....well, that would be Michael Guerin currently, had just started attending the school. It actually hadn't occurred to his "foster father", who had attained that status during the summer, that Michael might have actually been expected to send him to school three weeks ago. His primary purpose in fostering him, after all, was to get money for beer...or better yet, Scotch. Putting Michael out to be fostered at all was part of a new theory to 'mainstream' kids at the orphanage, since it had been found that fostering kids lead to higher IQs and better adaptation to society than leaving them institutionalized. Of course, that probably didn't apply to leaving fifth graders with abusive old drunks, but in fairness the orphanage had tried two other foster situations....both loving couples who had wanted to eventually adopt Michael, and neither had worked out. That is to say, Michael had run away from both foster homes.

No, strangely enough, old man Guerin suited Michael...the man was usually drunk and undemanding of Michael socially, content to let him sit in his room and read books. If the truth be known, Michael would rather be there now. He had attained a fair amount of skill at reading, all on his own, and more recently forged his foster father's signature on an application for a library card and was using it to read everything he could about UFOs in general, and the 1947 crash in particular. Because Michael knew he could never really fit in to this society, but he hadn't yet given up on getting back to a society...somewhere...that he might fit in.

Nonetheless, there was something about the girl who came in with Mrs. Hotstetter that resonated in Michael. Perhaps it was her pissed off but sort of resigned to it attitude. He could almost read that in the aura around her. He felt the same way himself a lot of the time. It was almost like he could read her mind, thinking much like he thought...that there had to be something better in the universe than Roswell New Mexico.

As Mrs Hotstetter entered the class, the recess bell rang, and all the special ed students except Michael looked up at Mrs. Arnold expectedly.

"OK, everybody outside, for recess. Someone show Michael around. He's new, and doesn't know about the playground yet."

Mrs. Hostetter looked at Maria. "Why don't you do that, Miss DeLuca. I need to talk to Mrs. Arnold here, to decide how she can best use your services for the next six weeks or so."

Maria choked off the intended response, a sarcastic 'whatever...', figuring she was in enough trouble for so soon in the school year. She looked at this Michael...he was dressed like a ragamuffin and had what was easily the worst haircut she'd ever seen.

"Come with me...," she said, hoping she could keep him on the periphery of the crowd on the playground where as few people as possible would see them together.

"I'm glad you are here, Mrs. Hotstetter," said Judy Arnold. "This new child...have you read the records from the social workers about him? He was apparently abandoned as a child....grew up in an orphanage...was a loner even there. It looks like he intentionally sabotaged his first two attempts at foster home placement, and now appears to be living in a trailer with a foster father who wasn't even aware that kids went to school. His academic skills are nonexistent according to the testing, although I think he reads better than he's letting on, but socially.....socially the kid's pretty much a basket case."

The words, 'social basket case,' triggered thoughts in Mrs. Hotstetters mind of Max Evans, although you certainly couldn't fault Max academically. Still, if it wasn't for Liz Parker having almost adopted the kid as her personal project, he'd no doubt be little better off socially than the new boy. In all of his time at Monterrey Elementary school Max had actually only gone out to recess that one time...and then there'd been the fight where Max had broken the forearm of that obnoxious young....Mrs. Hotstetter shook her head. The task today was to find a way to socialize Michael Guerin, not to worry about Max Evans. But even as she thought that, Mrs. Hotstetter felt her jaw drop open as she gazed out into the play yard. Max Evans had actually gone out to recess, without even having Liz Parker at his side.

Liz had tried to see Maria before school, but her mother had dropped her off only seconds before class, so she hadn’t rally had an opportunity to talk to her. Liz had called her last night and gotten her mother, Amy DeLuca informing her in no uncertain terms that Maria did not have telephone privileges, and would be unlikely to have them back in the near future….whatever that meant. Mrs. DeLuca had a habit of meting out fairly severe punishment, then letting Maria off the hook if she could convince her mother she was sorry. As the recess bell rang, she saw Maria come out of one of the special ed classes, talking to someone she didn’t know. Liz didn’t want to interrupt her friend, and she certainly didn’t want to leave Max, but she really did need to know if the Friday night sleepover was still on.

“Look, Max…I have to go talk to Maria for just a minute, OK? Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” said Max. He really did wish she didn’t feel she needed to stay in recesses with him….she deserved a normal life. Of course, he was still too uncomfortable to go out himself, and he did enjoy it when there was just the two of them in the room.

But after she left, he looked wistfully out the window to the playground, hoping to see her. Instead he saw….well, he didn’t know what the boy’s name was…none of the three of them had names back then. When Isabel and he talked about him at all, ..which wasn’t very often… they tended to refer to him as the frightened one.

It had been near dusk when Isabel had pulled herself wet and naked from the pod, and Max had done the same only a few minutes later. They had huddled together overnight in the pod chamber, clinging to one another for warmth. The other had been born….hatched…decanted…Max struggled for the right word, just before daylight. He’d traveled with them for that day…never getting too close, but never letting them out of his sight either…at least not until the Evans….Max still couldn’t really bring himself to think of them as Mom and Dad, even if Izzy did…until the Evans had driven down the road. The boy had gone into hiding then, and neither Max nor Isabel had ever seen him again…at least not until today.

Even for a social basket case, some opportunities are too valuable to pass up. Doing his best to stifle his fear of all the strangers on the playfield, Max left to actively seek out the boy standing there between Liz and Maria.

“Ria…I heard about the concert. How much trouble are you in?”

“Uh, that would be about a 14 point five on a one to ten scale, Liz. Mom is threatening to keep me grounded as long as I live…as a matter of fact, she’s thinking about putting something in her living will to keep me grounded, even if she’s in a coma and can’t enforce it herself.”

“Maria…it can’t be that bad. Your mother is always sort of a Pooh bear. You think she’ll let you off the hook in time for the sleepover Friday?”

“I dunno, Liz. I may have really stepped in it this time. You might want to…..”

Whatever Maria had intended to say…she’d stopped. She appeared Liz to be speechless…definitely not the natural state for Maria, but as her eyes turned to follow Maria’s eyes, Liz’s own eyes went wide with surprise.

“MAX!? What are you doing here…?”

“I wanted to talk to…..What is your name, anyway?” he asked, looking straight at Michael Guerin.