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“Why would an entire town be abducted?”
Sam shrugs, doesn’t answer.
“No, really?” I ask.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Of course. ”
“Well, the theory is that the government has been allowing alien abductions in exchange for technology. ”
“Really? What kind of technology?” I ask.
“Like chips for supercomputers and formulas for more bombs and green technologies. Stuff like that. ”
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“Green technology for live specimens? Weird. Why do aliens want to abduct humans?”
“So they can study us. ”
“But why? I mean, what reason could they possibly have?”
“So that when Armageddon comes they’ll know our weaknesses and be able to easily defeat us by exposing them. ”
I’m kind of taken aback by his answer, but only because of the scenes still playing in my head from the night before, remembering the weapons I saw the Mogadorians use, and the massive beasts.
“Wouldn’t it be easy for them if they already have bombs and technologies far superior to our own?”
“Well, some people seem to think that they’re hoping we’ll kill ourselves first. ”
I look at Sam. He is smiling at me, trying to decide whether I’m taking the conversation seriously.
“Why would they want us to kill ourselves first? What is their incentive?”
“Because they’re jealous. ”
“Jealous of us? Why, because of our rugged good looks?”
Sam laughs. “Something like that. ”
I nod. We run in silence for a minute and I can tell Sam is having a tough time, breathing heavily. “How did you get interested in all this?”
He shrugs. “It’s just a hobby,” he says, though I get the distinct feeling that he’s keeping something from me.
We finish the mile at eight minutes fifty-nine seconds, better than the last time Sam ran it. Bernie Kosar follows the class back to the school. The others pet him, and when we walk in he tries to come in with us. I don’t know how he knew where I was. Could he have memorized the way to the school this morning on the ride in? The thought seems ridiculous.
He stays at the door. I walk to the locker room with Sam and the second he catches his breath he rattles off a ton of other conspiracy theories, one right after another, most of which are laughable. I like him, and find him amusing, but sometimes I wish he would stop talking.
When home ec begins Sarah isn’t in class. Mrs. Benshoff gives instruction for the first ten minutes and then we head to the kitchen. I enter the station alone, resigned to the fact that I’ll be cooking alone today, and as soon as that thought occurs to me, Sarah walks in.
“Did I miss anything good?” she asks.
“About ten minutes of quality time with me,” I say with a smile.
She laughs. “I heard about your locker this morning. I’m sorry. ”
“You put the manure there?” I ask.
She laughs again. “No, of course not. But I know they’re picking on you because of me. ”
“They’re just lucky I didn’t use my superpowers and throw them into the next county. ”
She playfully grabs my biceps. “Right, these huge muscles. Your superpowers. Boy, they are lucky. ”
Our project for the day is to make blueberry cupcakes. As we start mixing the batter, Sarah begins telling me about her history with Mark. They dated for two years, but the longer they were together, the more she drifted from her parents and her friends. She was Mark’s girlfriend, nothing else. She knew she had started to change, to adopt some of his attitudes towards people: being mean and judgmental, thinking she was better than them. She also started drinking and her grades slipped. At the end of the last school year, her parents sent her to live with her aunt in Colorado for the summer. When she got there, she started taking long hikes in the mountains, taking pictures of the scenery with her aunt’s camera. She fell in love with photography and had the best summer ever, realizing there was far more to life than being a cheerleader and dating the quarterback of the football team. When she got home she broke up with Mark and quit cheerleading, and made a vow that she was going to be good, and kind, to everyone. Mark hasn’t gotten over it. She says he still considers her his girlfriend, and believes she’s going to come back to him. She says the only thing she misses about him are his dogs, which she hung out with whenever she was at his house. I then tell her about Bernie Kosar, and how he showed up at our doorstep unexpectedly after that first morning at the school.
