What was that again, Justin?" asked a smirking Asian woman. "People are seeing things disappearing?"
The anchorman, a beefy guy right out of The Sopranos, chortled, "Some farm boy out of Jackson, a little village in Pennsylvania, says he was up milking the cows when everything from his waist down disappeared for a moment or two, then flickered back on. Methinks that farm boy might be growing some hemp on the side." Asian woman laughed, showing a zillion perfect teeth.
David flicked off the TV and slumped forward. For a while, he could barely catch his breath.
Two days later, the thing in Japan happened. He did little else but watch TV, flicking back and forth between stations.
"David?" called Lorena from the kitchen where she was preparing dinner. It was a Saturday and normally he would have been enjoying the time off. "Are you all right?"
Lorena had taken the Japanese reports with her usual calm and little comment other than, "Now isn't that fascinating?"
"Why aren't you more upset by this?" David demanded. "You add what happened in Japan to what happened to me and probably hundreds of other people just keeping quiet about it and what do you come up with, Lorena? You still equate this to someone seeing ghosts?"
She walked into the family room, still holding her chopping knife. Her face was serious. "What do you want me to say? Should I run amok screaming? It's a choice. Freak out or wait and see where it goes. I'm choosing the latter for my own sanity. Maybe right now though I'm glad we don't have any kids."
Her tranquil nature was what he had always admired about her, but now he wanted someone else to talk to. He called Kevin and Marty to see if they would meet him somewhere for coffee or a drink.
"A drink and let's avoid the student crowd," said Marty.
They met at a pub across town.
After their drinks were served, David said, "I have something to tell you."
When he was finished, Kevin shook his head and sighed. "It happened to my wife too. And one of my students. I don't know what to say. I wish I'd ordered a double." He put his hand up for the waiter.
"You're the physicist, Kevin," said Marty. "Any guesses as to what this is?"
The anchor people on the TV over the bar were obviously excited, though the sound was turned down. David jumped up to read the banner at the bottom of the screen.
Similar incidents in South Africa and Italy, it exclaimed.
He ordered a shot and a beer and returned to the table. "It's the end of the world," he said.