Free Lizard People by Charlie Price Page A

phone. Marco could feel the scales receding on her hand.
    In the middle of the next block, Marco ducked into a yard, pulling Gila toward the back.
    â€œGarvins’ garage,” he explained, not slowing down. “I do their lawn.”
    I mow the Garvins’ lawn! I swallowed, tasted acid in my mouth.
    â€œThey’re vacationing,” Marco said, letting go of Gila’s hand at the garage’s side door and pushing hard on the window next to it. A sound froze him. Sirens! He put his weight behind the pushing, and the window opened a crack, then more, then enough for him to squeeze through. The sound was getting louder! Noooo! Not now. He couldn’t even imagine what would happen if they were caught. Would the world as he knew it just … what? Disappear?
    He opened the door from the inside and Gila rushed in. With the slam of the door closing, he bent over, hands on knees, breathing hard. The sirens had gotten very loud and then stopped. What did that mean?
    Monitor’s voice startled him.
    â€œI don’t know how to explain it simply,” Monitor said, holding up his hand to ward off their questions. “A sort of time warp, possibly. Inexactitude. Space is not as linear as you might think.”
    As Gila had earlier, Monitor had taken off his blue smock and was dressed in his swimsuit thing. He was lean and muscular, like an Olympic freestyler, but at the moment, he looked silly standing in a dark garage in his bathing suit.
    What was happening with the sirens? Could they have been fire trucks? Marco looked out the side window he had entered but saw nothing except sunlight, trees, and shadows.
    Gila had her hands on her hips and looked steamed. She probably would have said something, but she was still breathing too hard.
    â€œWhen I came out under the oak tree,” Monitor continued, “I knew you had arrived before … well, that’s not quite true. When your neighbor caught me looking around and began yelling, I ran back to the portal. When I came out on the other side, Anole was standing there with her command tube and I didn’t want to get stuck answering to her and lose this opportunity, so I decided to come back here while I still could, and finish what I started.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Marco had his breath back. “I started it! I’m the one who told you about it. I want to know how to cure Mom, and you guys are just making it worse!”
    Monitor began to get that greenish-bronze hue. Oh jeez!
    â€œUlrich!” Gila had recovered her breath. “Calm down. Now!”
    His coloring receded and his skin resumed its fleshlike texture. What was it? Whenever these guys got excited or upset or … or when did she do it the first time? When she made some kind of mind link with what she called the University. Marco wanted to form a theory but clearly didn’t have enough information.
    â€œIs this real?” Gila asked Monitor, gesturing to the outdoors.
    â€œThat’s what I thought at first, too,” he said. “That these were all dense holograms, but no, these are actual trees and flowers. Even the buildings in this area are made from genuine natural materials. Must have cost a fortune, yet the people dress very plainly and the tech systems are antediluvian.”
    The emotion in Marco’s voice rose and fell with the events in the tale like it was a book on tape. How could he know this stuff?
    â€œI told you it’s 2007!” Marco said, exasperated at how little respect they seemed to have for his words or his intelligence.
    Gila and Monitor looked at each other.
    â€œWe have underestimated the boy,” Gila said. “He’s not nearly as crazy as we thought.” Once again she brought her fingers to her temples as if she had a migraine. Or perhaps that helped her think better.
    â€œThe garage is surrounded!” A loud megaphone voice coming from the driveway startled the three of them.