Headstones. He was standing in a sea of headstones. Leaning down, he placed a single white carnation in front of one of the stones. Liz didn't just see him, she felt him… felt what he was feeling. She felt the grief in her stomach. It felt like someone was tearing out her insides.

Then she was back in the diner and Jimmy was looking at her with concern. "Are you okay, Liz?" he asked.

Liz shook her head; the images were already receding, but not the knot in her stomach.

"You remembered something, didn't you?" he asked.

"Remembered?" she said.

"You remember things too. Things that haven't hap- pened yet," he said.

He said it evenly, matter-of-factly, as if he already knew.

– "Yes," she found herself saying. "Do you remember things, Jimmy? Is that how you knew I was going to spill the sugar?”

He nodded. "But I try not to talk about it. It makes people nervous," he said. "Did you see Jessica?" he asked.

"No," Liz said quickly, hating to lie to his open and trusting face. Yet it was a kindness, she knew. No doubt he had seen that she had remembered something bad.

"Okay," he said.

"Jimmy, Sam needs you in the back," Bell said from behind the counter.

"Okay," Jimmy said, and he was off.

"Come on, Parker," Maria said from behind her.

Liz turned to face her friend, and Maria immediately saw something in her face. "What is it?" Maria asked.

Liz shook her head. "Nothing, I'm just tired.”

"Liar," Maria said, sitting down and putting the bags of to-go food down on the table.

"I had another flash," Liz admitted. "I'm not even really sure what I saw.”

Maria's hand reached out for hers.

"It's okay, really. I'm sure it was nothing. Just spooked me. It's the first one I've had since yesterday. I don't even really know what it was," she said.

Her friend eyed her carefully for a moment and said, "Come on, we'll deliver this food and walk it off.”

Liz shook her head. "I'd rather just sit down for a few minutes," she said. The truth was that she knew she would be able to hide from Max even less than she was able to hide from Maria.

She didn't want to answer any questions right now.

"Okay, I'll do it," Maria said. She got up and grabbed the food. "Are you sure you're okay?”

"Yeah," Liz said, mustering a smile.

When the door closed behind Maria a few seconds later, Liz found that the knot in her stomach had not sub- sided a bit.

Who was that guy in Greek myths? He was cursed to see the future and be powerless to stop it, she thought.

Well, Liz was sure she had seen the future. And she was equally certain that Jimmy's sister was going to die, and soon.

9

Kyle walked around the front of the garage and saw Dan coming out of the office. "I'm ready to go," Kyle said.

Dan nodded and said, "Okay, go to the office and punch in, then I need you to pull the transmission on the Plymouth. You can do that?”

"Sure," Kyle said. "And I can drop the new one in.”

"We'll have it this morning," Dan said.

"Look," Kyle said before Dan could turn and head for the garage, "I want to thank you for letting us use the room in the back, and for breakfast. My friends and I really appreciate it.”

Dan just looked at him and nodded. "You and your friends can stay there as long as everybody behaves them- selves and you don't wreck the place.”

Then, without another word, Dan turned and headed for the garage.

Kyle walked around to the office and found it occupied.

The girl behind the desk smiled and said, "Hi, my name is Dawn.”

For a second, Kyle was too surprised to respond. He had expected the office to be empty.

"You must be Kyle," she said, holding out her hand. Kyle shook it and smiled, "Nice to meet you, Dawn.”

Kyle shook it and smiled, "Nice to meet you, Dawn.”

It was nice to meet her. Kyle guessed she was about his age, maybe a little older. She was definitely pretty. She had shoulder-length blond hair that curled at the ends. She also had a nice smile.

And she smelled great.

Suddenly Kyle was keenly aware of how long it had been since he had last had a date.

"Here," she said, holding out a time card with his name printed out in a neat, female handwriting.

Definitely way too long, Kyle thought. And Buddha's Mid- dle Way teaches us to avoid extreme forms of self-denial.

Kyle decided that a week or two in Stonewall wouldn't be so bad after all.

Taking the time card, he ran it under the clock, which stamped it with the time. Then he put it on a rack on the wall, a rack that held a time card for Dawn and another for Gomer.

"Have you been working for Dan long?" Kyle asked.

Dawn shook her head and said, "No, and I'm just part time. I'm getting his office in order.”

She gestured to the computer on the desk in front of her and said, "I'm also trying to get Dan set up on the Internet. He rebuilds radios on old cars, but he's hopeless on the computer, and he needs a Web site.”

She tutted gently and said, "Sorry to say that I'm not much better.”

"Well, maybe I could help," Kyle said. Actually, he wasn't sure that he could. He was okay on the computer, but he didn't know much about Internet programming. Too late, though. He'd already offered. Maybe Liz could talk him through a few things. And it would help him get to know Dawn a little better.

"Can I help you?" a stern voice said behind Kyle.

Turning, he saw Gomer standing in the doorway.

"What?" Kyle said.

"What do you need, partner?" Gomer said. He looked bigger than Kyle had remembered from yesterday. Or was it just that Kyle was closer to him today?

In any case, there was no mistaking the menace in his voice.

"Is this guy bothering you, Dawn?" Gomer said.

"Just calm down, Gomer," Dawn said. "This is Kyle. He's working for Dan.”

Kyle mustered a friendly smile and said, "Hi, I'm Kyle. You-towed our van yesterday.”

Then Kyle could see that Gomer recognized him. How- ever, his sour expression didn't get any friendlier. Kyle held out his hand.

Gomer ignored him and spoke to Dawn. "I've got the tranny. Any tow calls?”

"No," Dawn said, "but Dan might need you to go to Pueblo for some parts. You can talk to him.”

Gomer shot Kyle a dirty look and headed out the door.

"Well…," Kyle said.

"Oh, don't mind Gomer," Dawn said.

"Is he your… are you two…?" Kyle asked.

Dawn shook her head and said, "No, but he acts like it sometimes.”

Then she smiled that smile at him. "I'm happy to say that I'm a free agent.”

"Okay, then," Kyle said. "I'd better get to work.”

"See you later, Kyle," Dawn said as he left the office.

Dan and Gomer were talking when Kyle came into the shop area.

"Kyle, grab the lift from out back and pull the transmis- sion out of the pickup," Dan said. "Gomer will give you a hand with it.”

Kyle headed across the shop floor to the back door. Out- side, he saw more junked cars and the Volkswagen van that Gomer had mentioned the day before. The van was in bad shape. One look told Kyle it would probably never run again. The back was smashed in pretty well, and it just wouldn't pay to do the extensive bodywork on a car that old.

It was also rusted out along the bottom.

The most remarkable thing about the van was the classic sixties hippie paint job: psychedelic colors swirling around large peace signs painted on the front and the drivers side. Clearly the work had been done by hand, but someone had done a pretty good job. The colors were faded and mixed with a good deal of rust, but Kyle found it easy to imagine how the van must have looked years ago.

What he couldn't imagine was Dan driving it, ever. Aside from the long hair in a ponytail, Dan looked like an average, slightly grouchy, middle-aged guy.