Hidden Places

The Counter Spy Who Loved Me

1

"Get up! Get up!! The pipes are coming up through the floor!! Get up! Quickly, we must get outside!"

Stomping into the bedroom, a half crazed looking man, sleepwalking, standing in only his boxer shorts, stood over his young daughter and his own mother screeching in terror, alerting his family of immediate doom. Flailing off the bed covers he continued insistently screaming at the two females in a half-glazed, robotic yet seemingly normal reaction for pipes coming up through the floor. Quickly he evacuated the family he'd awoken, through two flights of stairs and outside onto the front lawn. The 8 year old and 50 year old on the lawn were frightened, still in a dreamlike state themselves when the young girls father emerged lastly from the home. He stumbled out onto the lawn and rested his hands on his knees in a half-sitting position, drawing in deep breaths as though he'd run a marathon. His mother and daughter drew closer to help him regain his composure and to inquire about what had happened inside the house. Should they call the police? Who do you call when pipes are viciously driving their way up through the floor?

The man only quizzically remarked, "What in the world are you two doing out here in the yard in the dead of night?"