"Nick DiChario - Flyby Aliens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dichario Nicholas A)

Sally placed her hand gently on Max's forearm. Her fingers felt cold. She smiled sadly. She looked tired this morning, more tired than he had ever seen her. "I'm sorry. I should have left already."

"Oh, forget it." Max went to the sink and dumped the last of his coffee down the drain. "Can you at least tell me what's knocking around inside your head that makes you think you're going to be so much happier without me? Is it another man? Is that it?" The thought hadn't crossed Max's mind until that moment. Wouldn't he have known? Wouldn't he have recognized the signs of an affair? Maybe not. It had been so long since they had made love.

"Happy? Do you think this makes me happy? Are you crazy? Maxy, I want you to think about Act III, Scene II. Do you remember what the young girl, Melinda, says to her boyfriend, Eddy, just before she leaves him?"

"Do I remember? Of course I remember. It's the climax of the play, my best scene, except that I can't finish it off. It's been driving me crazy for two years."

"Three," Sally reminded him.

"Whatever. Melinda and Eddy have just made love for the first time. They're thinking that maybe, just maybe there might be no tomorrow because of the aliens. The entire planet could very well be on the brink of annihilation."

Sally's eyes brightened, and Max caught a flash of the woman he'd fallen in love with so many years ago, the woman who had inspired him and encouraged his creativity. He realized that he would never fall out of love with her, no matter what happened between them, because Sally had opened a window to her soul and let him look inside, and that had made him a better human being, a better man, the best man he could be.

"Yes," Sally said, "it's a wonderful scene. Melinda says, 'I'm sorry, Eddy. I have to go. You're on your own now and we'll never see each other again,' and Eddy says -- "

Max lurched forward dramatically. "I know what Eddy says. Eddy says, 'What are you talking about? We love each other. Not even death could tear us apart.' But that's where I always get stuck, Sal. That's as far as I can go. I don't know why she's leaving him. It's got something to do with the aliens, obviously, but -- "

"I think I know what Melinda wants to say, Max. She wants to say, 'Eddy, I know this is going to be hard for you to understand, but the aliens have always been here on Earth. They've grown up with humans for centuries, gone to work and school and war and PTA meetings with humans, lived and loved and suffered and died with humans. But they've always known that someday their ships would return for them, someday they would have to leave, regardless of how much it hurt.' That's what Melinda wants to say, Max. That's what she wants to say."

"But why does she have to go?" Max demanded.

"Because it was just a flyby, Maxy. Please, try and understand. We never meant to be cruel. We've learned so much from you. Now we need to go home -- all of us -- and study what we've learned, try to make sense of it. When we come back, we'll understand you better, and we'll be able to help you understand us. When we come back, we'll come back to stay. But that won't be for a very long time. I'm sorry. I'm going to miss you so much. I hope someday you'll forgive me."

That's when Max realized what he should have known all along about Sally, about Flyby Aliens.

He just stood there, couldn't say a single thing, as she came over to him, kissed him lightly on the lips, and walked into their bedroom.

#
A few months later, Max went outside to get the newspaper. A hot wind blew in off the Atlantic, bending the palm trees. The morning sun was painfully bright. Arnie was out walking his little yellow mutt named Chester.

"Hi, Arnie."

"Howdy, Max." He tugged on Chester's leash. "How's that play a yers lookin'? Figure out what to do with them aliens yet?"

"To be honest, I've given up on Flyby Aliens. It's just not the same without Sally."

Arnie shifted uncomfortably. Sally was one of the few West Palm Beachers in their community to disappear, and Max could tell Arnie still didn't know what to say about it.

The final count on missing persons after the aliens had departed was in the millions. The aliens had stayed only a little longer than a day. Thirty hours and forty-seven minutes to be exact. Just about everyone on the planet knew someone who had disappeared, or someone who knew someone, or someone who knew someone who was in a twelve-step program to cope with missing loved ones.

Arnie pulled off his Cardinals cap and wiped the sweat from his brow. His tank top hung down like a housedress, just shy of his skinny red knees. A real character, that Arnie.

"Hey, Arnie," Max said. "Been meaning to ask you something. Do you wear anything under those shirts?"

Arnie grinned. "That's what Babs Crenshaw wants to know."

Max smiled, thinking of Sally. She would want him to go on. Yes, Sally would want that very much. He was on his own now.