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problem. A big problem."
"What's the problem?" I asked.
"It's not something I think you'd want me to talk about on a cellular phone," Miranda said.
"It's a digital phone, Miranda," I said. "Virtually snoop-proof. Now what is it?"
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
"Miranda?" I said.
Suddenly Miranda was back. "Michelle's in the hospital, Tom. It's bad. It's very bad. They think she has brain damage. They think she might die. They have her on a respirator right now, and they're trying to figure out what to do next. You have to get out here now, Tom. She's at Pomona Valley Hospital. It's right off the 10. Hurry up."
"All right," I said. "I'm on my way, Miranda."
"Hurry up, Tom." Miranda said.
"I will," I said.
"Hurry," she said again, and then hung up.
After she hung up I realized her voiced sounded odd because she'd been crying.
Chapter Fourteen
This much we knew.
Michelle and Miranda arrived at the workshop of Featured Creatures, Inc., one of the special effects houses working on Earth Resurrected, at 3:15. Miranda said that she and Michelle barely talked on the way out to Pomona, or during the brief lunch they had at the El Loco Taco drive-in before heading out. Michelle would answer questions asked her, but that was about it; after about ten minutes of this, Miranda stopped trying to converse and switched the radio on to a light hits station.
They were met at Featured Creatures by Judy Martin, the technician who was going to plaster goo over Michelle's face. Miranda said that Martin looked somewhat dazed right from the beginning. As it turned out, Martin's husband had picked that day to announce to his wife that he was divorcing her, and that he intended to marry her younger sister Helen, who, if she really had to know, was the one he'd always been in love with, anyway. Ma
