Free The Suburb Beyond the Stars by M. T. Anderson Page A

all of us about time and …” He didn’t really know how to explain it. The mother was looking at him without any expression.
    “You’re kind of a creepy boy,” she concluded. “Why are you trying to frighten us?”
    “I’m not — it’s because … we have to worry about the, you know, the … didn’t you see that procession last night?”
    “Thanks, anyway, for bringing the kids home,” said the woman. “Have a good day.”
    “I’m not trying to be creepy,” said Brian. “But everyone here is in danger.”
    “From what?”
    “From … things from outside the world.”
    “Outside the world,” said Mrs. Drake. She looked at the babysitter girl. The babysitter girl was scratching her cheek a lot.
    Gregory came up and seized Brian’s shoulder. “Ignore him,” said Gregory. “This young man’s impressionable brain has been fried by rock music, video games, and artificial sweeteners. He’s the problem with society today.”
    “Gregory —” Brian protested.
    “Let’s go,” said Gregory. He apologized to Mrs. Drake. She glared at them and nodded. “I have to get to work,” she said.
    “See?” said Brian. “That’s what I mean about us all being confused. It’s Saturday.”
    “It’s not Saturday,” said the woman.
    “Yesterday was Friday,” Brian insisted.
    “Maybe she has to work on Saturday,” said Gregory.
    “It’s not Saturday,” the woman said. “It’s Tuesday.”
    The babysitter girl looked bored and toed the flowers.
    “Never mind him,” said Gregory. “Sorry. We’re sorry.” He dragged Brian off.
    They kept going down the road.
    “Why did you pull me away?” said Brian. “You heard that. She’s confused. We’re in some kind of time … thing. She needs to know. Everyone here needs to know.”
    “You’re not going to convince them by telling them crazy stories about things from other worlds.”
    “But that’s the
truth.”
    “What is it with you and the truth? It’s not going to get you anywhere.”
    “How can you say that?”
    “They’re not going to listen to you. People can only hear what they want to hear.”
    “Someone’s got to tell them how much danger they’re in.”
    “How much danger are they in?”
    Brian scowled. “I don’t know.”
    “See?”
    “Here’s what I think,” said Brian. “The Game is being played as a way of settling who owns this territory, right?”
    “Right.”
    “Gregory, I think that the Thusser have given up on the Game. They’re ignoring the Rules. They’re just taking the territory. This is some kind of first wave of settlement.”
    “So these are Thusser in the houses?”
    “No,” said Brian, uneasily. “No, they’re people in the houses, but —”
    “So your theory doesn’t really make sense.”
    “Right now,” said Brian. “But I’m sure that I’ll figure something out.”
    Brian’s “I” bugged Gregory. “Oh, you will? Okay,” he said, somewhat harshly, “I hope you have something figured out by the time we walk into the sales office and meet the undead guy in charge of this whole outfit. Because I have to admit that I’m starting to wonder why we’re going to see him without any way to protect ourselves.”
    “Someone has to do something,” said Brian, “and we know what’s going on. We’ve played the Game.”
    “And you’re the one who gets to design the whole next round.”
    “There isn’t going to be a next round,” Brian said, exasperated. “The Thusser are cheating. They’re breaking the Rules. They’re invading without an official victory. We have to stop them.”
    “Yeah — yeah — but you’re always running off to stop someone from doing something without any plan or any way of protecting yourself. You always just assume I’m going to come save you.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “Last night, you would have been grabbed or killed or something by that monster if I hadn’t run after you with a rake.”
    “So I was, like, I was supposed to sit there