Consulting her wristwatch, Mrs. Dai said, ‘Twenty-two minutes till dawn, then no one have to worry, everyone happy’ – with a wary glance at Mother Phan – ‘no one angry with friends anymore. Anyone like tea?’
Everyone politely declined tea.
‘No trouble to make,’ said Mrs. Dai.
Again, everyone politely declined.
After a brief silence, Del said, ‘So you were born and raised along the Xan River.’
Mrs. Dai brightened. ‘Oh, is such beautiful land. You been there?’
‘No,’ Del said, ‘though I’ve always wanted to go.’
‘Beautiful, beautiful,’ Mrs. Dai rhapsodised, clapping her small hands together. ‘Jungle so green and dark, air heavy as steam and full of smell of growing things, can hardly breathe for stink of growing things, so many flowers and snakes, all red-gold mist in morning, purple mist at twilight, leeches thick and long as hot dogs.’
Tommy muttered, ‘Lovely, lovely, with all the resurrected dead men slaving in the rice paddies.’
‘Excuse please?’ said Mrs. Dai.
Glowering at Tommy, his mother said, ‘Be respectful.’
When Tommy declined to repeat himself, Del said, ‘Mrs. Dai, when you were a girl, did you ever notice anything strange in the skies over the Xan River?’
‘Strange?’
‘Strange objects.’
‘In skies?’
‘Disc-shaped craft, perhaps.’
Perplexed, Mrs. Dai said, ‘Dishes in sky?’
Tommy thought he heard something outside. It might have been a truck door closing.
Changing tack slightly, Del said, ‘In the village where you were raised, Mrs. Dai, were there any legends of short humanoid creatures living in the jungle?’
‘Short what?’ asked Mrs. Dai.
‘About four feet tall, grey skin, bulbous heads, enormous eyes, really mesmerizing eyes.’
Quy Trang Dai looked at Mother Phan for help. ‘She crazy person,’ Mother Phan explained. ‘Eerie lights in the night,’ Del said, ‘pulsating lights with an irresistible attraction? Anything like that along the banks of the Xan?’
‘Very dark in jungle at night. Very dark in village at night. No electricity.’
‘In your childhood,’ Del probed, ‘do you remember any periods of missing time, unexplained blackouts, fugue states?’
Nonplussed, Mrs. Dai could only say, ‘Everyone sure not like nice hot cup of tea?’
No doubt talking to herself but appearing to address Scootie, Del said, ‘Sure as hell, this Xan River is a primary focus of evil extraterrestrial influence.’
Heavy footsteps thudded across the front porch. Tommy tensed, waited, and when a knock came at the door, he stood bolt upright from the sofa.
‘Don’t answer door,’ Mrs. Dai advised. ‘Yeah,’ Del said, ‘it might be that damn aggressive Amway saleswoman.’
Scootie crept warily to the front door. He sniffed along the threshold, caught a scent he didn’t like, whimpered, and hurried back to Del’s side.
The knocking sounded again, louder and more insistent than before.
Raising her voice, Mrs. Dai said, ‘You can’t come in.’ Immediately, the demon pounded again, so hard that the door shook and the lock bolt rattled against the striker plate.
‘Go away,’ said Mrs. Dai. To Tommy, she said, ‘Only eighteen minutes, then everyone happy.’
Mother Phan said, ‘Sit down, Tuong. You just making everyone nervous.’
Tommy couldn’t take his eyes off the front door -until movement at one of the flanking windows drew his attention. The serpent-eyed fat man peered in at them.
‘We don’t even have a gun,’ Tommy worried. ‘Don’t need gun,’ Mother Phan said. ‘Got Quy Trang Dai. Sit down and be patient.’
The Samaritan-thing walked to the window on the other side of the front door and peered hungrily at Tommy through that pane. It rapped one knuckle against the glass.
To Del, Tommy repeated, ‘We don’t have a gun.’
‘We’ve got Mrs. Dai,’ Del said. ‘You can always pick her up by the ankles and use her as a club.’
Quy Trang Dai wagged one finger at the Samaritan-thing and said, ‘I made you, and I tell you go away, so now you go.’
The demon turned from the window. Its footsteps thudded across the porch and down the front steps.
‘There,’ said Mother Phan, ‘now sit down, Tuong, and behave.’
Trembling, Tommy sat on the sofa. ‘It really went away?’
‘No,’ said Mrs. Dai. ‘It going all around house now to see did I forget and leave door or window open.’