Free Red the First by C. D. Verhoff Page A

front
door.
    It was Nate, all bug-eyed and out of
breath. “We have a new arrival.”
    They’d had newcomers before and it was
always exciting, but Nate seemed unusually agitated over the
development. Why?
    Reading people’s minds was becoming
more second nature than she had let on. The young man’s thoughts
centered on the two-way radio from the celebration in the library.
A picture of a middle-aged black man with a neatly trimmed beard
and broad shoulders hung in his head. She realized Nate thought the
two were connected.
    “ It’s not Hank, is
it?”
    “ How the hell did you know
that?” Nate gave her a sidelong look.
    “ Just a guess. Well, what
does he want?”
    “ He says he’s from the
government.”
    “ It still
exists?”
    Nate shrugged.
    “ The town council is
gathering in the Assembly Hall to meet him.”
    Elizabeth went out to find Red. She
figured he was out in the woods behind the house, searching out
possible logs to chop up for firewood, his favorite place and way
to unwind. She found him deep in the forest, sitting by the creek,
chewing on a piece of grass. When she told him of the arrival, he
wordlessly got up and started toward the town center. She had to
jog to keep up with him. Obviously, he was still mad at her for the
‘alien’ comments.
    They were the last to arrive at the
former burger joint, which now served as the town hall. The council
was already assembled: Dr. Patel, Professor Mary Linkletter, Farmer
Morningside, Jerome Fireside and Father Bob, the man whose
impartiality kept everything peaceful. Veronica Albright, who not
only looked sharp, but had a sharp mind as well, was the last
council member. The other women in town disliked her, probably
because she was both beautiful and opinionated, but Elizabeth found
the former computer guru’s forthrightness refreshing.
    Elizabeth’s role was council secretary.
Basically, she took roll call, brought in a pitcher of drinking
water and glasses, provided the snacks, and jotted down the
minutes. Of all the people on the council, Elizabeth felt that she
was the least qualified, that she’d only been selected for the
council because her husband was the mayor. For that reason, she
tried to melt into the scenery and not make any waves.
    An African American man, bald but with
a graying beard was at one of the swivel stools bolted to the floor
in front of what had been the dining counter. He swiveled around
when Red and Elizabeth entered, and stood to offer both of them a
firm handshake.
    “ I’m General Hank Moore,” he
said with a gentlemanly southern drawl. “United States Department
of Extraterrestrial Affairs. Glad to meet you.”
    Red’s demeanor stiffened at extraterrestrial . Hearing the general talk about it out in
the open was what Red had wanted, but after keeping his own
sighting a secret for so long, he was having misgivings about
talking about it. He’d originally seen the general, as a potential
ally, someone to verify that the alien he saw at the supermarket
was real. Now that Red was listening to another man making similar
claims, his cynical hat had come on.
    “ Department of
Extraterrestrial Affairs?” Red asked with an incredulous
squint.
    “ That’s what I said.”
General Moore motioned for everyone to be seated around the long
counter.
    Red gave Elizabeth a quizzical look; he
wanted to know if she had sized up the newcomer yet, but she hadn’t
quite gotten a grip on the general’s thoughts.
    “ Get him to talk more,” she
whispered to Red, hoping that would help open the general’s mind to
her.
    “ How was the trip here?” Red
asked.
    “ Tough.”
    Elizabeth had paper spread out on the
table in front of her, pen ready, prepared to take notes. She
jotted down a few things, but her main purpose was to zone in on
the newcomer’s thoughts. A person’s words were the windows into his
or her mind. Even if she didn’t understand their meaning, they
flowed from the mind like water from a wellspring. She had