linen paper. Through the hole, I could see African savannah and clouds, a little slice of landscape anyway. Most of the view was blocked by people. Thousands of them, apparently. All coming through the hole three or four at a time.
As the whole neighborhood watched in absolute astonishment, a loud plaintive mooing could be heard above the rapidly approaching sirens. Soon, several head of emaciated cattle appeared in the portal. Leery of the small jump down, they had to be prodded from behind by their drovers before they made the leap. It was really a sight to see the skeletal herd clattering down Junemort
I felt a hand on my shoulder then.
It was Chief Tillmann. His blue uniform shirt was misbuttoned, so that it was rucked up around one ear. His men were equally disarrayed. None of them seemed to care how they looked though.
“Harry. Jesus, Harry. What the hell is going on?”
“It appears to me, Chief, that the Chamber of Commerce plan to attract more visitors is working.”
“How can you joke like that? This is a disaster! What are we going to do with them?”
“Well, I fed the one that stopped by our place.”
Chief Tillmann snorted in disgust. He turned to one of his men. “Bill, get the Guard on the radio. I wish I’d believed the first reports and called them sooner, but .…I guess we can try to round up any that try to stray and keep them all together until the reinforcements arrive.”
Jimmy and Lauren were tugging at my shirttails.
“Dad, what about …?”
“Yeah, Dad, you know—”
“Oh, right, gotcha. Chief, good luck. We’ve gotta run home. Left the charcoal going.”
The four of us returned to our back yard.
The woman had eaten everything in sight, then promptly vomited it up and apparently passed out. Luckily, she hadn’t choked. We got her inside. Shirley cleaned her up, and I turned on the news.
When the police came, I told them we hadn’t seen any refugees around, and they left.
Back in front of the TV, I soon realized that no one was going to bother interviewing us.
Holes just like ours had opened up across the country.
Across the world, actually.
Thousands and thousands of holes, in places large and small.
Fifty percent of the holes seemed to originate in various African countries. A quarter led from the Indian subcontinent. Twenty percent reached out from Asian lands. The remainder were apportioned among miscellaneous spots.
The reporters concentrated at first on the major cities, where their news bureaus happened to be.
Paris was getting Bosnians.
Rome was getting North Koreans.
London was getting Indonesians.
Miami was getting Haitians.
Los Angeles was getting Cambodians.
Boston was getting Kurds.
Moscow was getting Afghanistanis.
Amsterdam was getting Bangladeshis.
Dallas was getting Salvadorans.
New York—well, I guess New York had done its share already, because they weren’t getting anyone. Or maybe it hadn’t been deemed a good enough destination. Maybe someone else was getting New Yorkers.
Then the reports from the network affiliates started coming in.
Peoria was getting Ukrainians.
Bismarck was getting Guatemalans.
Des Moines was getting Azerbaijanis.
New Orleans was getting Chinese.
Bangor was getting Mexicans.
Atlanta was getting Ethiopians.
Providence was getting Tibetans.
And so on.
Of course, the authorities almost instantly attempted to stop the flow.
They tried herding the refugees back through the portals. But the holes soon proved themselves to be one-way only.
They tried erecting barricades flat-up against the holes. This worked. For about sixty seconds. Then the same holes simply popped up a mile away. And again, and again as often as they were blocked.
If the authorities were really persistent with their barriers, the holes simply jumped to the closest inaccessible wilderness area, making it harder to corral the refugees. So soon the authorities stopped blocking.
This behavior seemed to indicate that the holes were not a
As the whole neighborhood watched in absolute astonishment, a loud plaintive mooing could be heard above the rapidly approaching sirens. Soon, several head of emaciated cattle appeared in the portal. Leery of the small jump down, they had to be prodded from behind by their drovers before they made the leap. It was really a sight to see the skeletal herd clattering down Junemort
I felt a hand on my shoulder then.
It was Chief Tillmann. His blue uniform shirt was misbuttoned, so that it was rucked up around one ear. His men were equally disarrayed. None of them seemed to care how they looked though.
“Harry. Jesus, Harry. What the hell is going on?”
“It appears to me, Chief, that the Chamber of Commerce plan to attract more visitors is working.”
“How can you joke like that? This is a disaster! What are we going to do with them?”
“Well, I fed the one that stopped by our place.”
Chief Tillmann snorted in disgust. He turned to one of his men. “Bill, get the Guard on the radio. I wish I’d believed the first reports and called them sooner, but .…I guess we can try to round up any that try to stray and keep them all together until the reinforcements arrive.”
Jimmy and Lauren were tugging at my shirttails.
“Dad, what about …?”
“Yeah, Dad, you know—”
“Oh, right, gotcha. Chief, good luck. We’ve gotta run home. Left the charcoal going.”
The four of us returned to our back yard.
The woman had eaten everything in sight, then promptly vomited it up and apparently passed out. Luckily, she hadn’t choked. We got her inside. Shirley cleaned her up, and I turned on the news.
When the police came, I told them we hadn’t seen any refugees around, and they left.
Back in front of the TV, I soon realized that no one was going to bother interviewing us.
Holes just like ours had opened up across the country.
Across the world, actually.
Thousands and thousands of holes, in places large and small.
Fifty percent of the holes seemed to originate in various African countries. A quarter led from the Indian subcontinent. Twenty percent reached out from Asian lands. The remainder were apportioned among miscellaneous spots.
The reporters concentrated at first on the major cities, where their news bureaus happened to be.
Paris was getting Bosnians.
Rome was getting North Koreans.
London was getting Indonesians.
Miami was getting Haitians.
Los Angeles was getting Cambodians.
Boston was getting Kurds.
Moscow was getting Afghanistanis.
Amsterdam was getting Bangladeshis.
Dallas was getting Salvadorans.
New York—well, I guess New York had done its share already, because they weren’t getting anyone. Or maybe it hadn’t been deemed a good enough destination. Maybe someone else was getting New Yorkers.
Then the reports from the network affiliates started coming in.
Peoria was getting Ukrainians.
Bismarck was getting Guatemalans.
Des Moines was getting Azerbaijanis.
New Orleans was getting Chinese.
Bangor was getting Mexicans.
Atlanta was getting Ethiopians.
Providence was getting Tibetans.
And so on.
Of course, the authorities almost instantly attempted to stop the flow.
They tried herding the refugees back through the portals. But the holes soon proved themselves to be one-way only.
They tried erecting barricades flat-up against the holes. This worked. For about sixty seconds. Then the same holes simply popped up a mile away. And again, and again as often as they were blocked.
If the authorities were really persistent with their barriers, the holes simply jumped to the closest inaccessible wilderness area, making it harder to corral the refugees. So soon the authorities stopped blocking.
This behavior seemed to indicate that the holes were not a
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