Kevin Ryan: A New Beginning

Old habits, he thought. As he approached the van, he sighed and thought, Well, Rome wasn't built in a day. And if took longer than a day to fall, he reminded himself.

As he surveyed the damage to the front windshield, he wondered if the fall took more or less than fifteen years.

Pieces of windshield were scattered on the road and desert around them in a radius of two or three dozen yards. The bits of glass were very small. The force must have been tremendous. He wondered how big the hole in the ground was that Isabel had filled in.

Max waited until three cars passed them and they were alone on the road. Raising his hand, he collected the hun- dreds of bits of broken glass and used his powers to lift them in the air. Bringing them together, he fused them into the windshield and reset the glass onto the van.

When he was finished he could see the problem: a hole about two feet around in the center of the windshield.

"Some of the glass must have been pulverized," Max said.

Liz looked embarrassed.

Maria looked amazed. "Remind me not to make you mad, Parker.”

"There's plenty of sand around, Max," Liz said. Max nodded and reached out with his powers to pick up a small pile of sand. It was simple to heat it to the right tem- perature and make it into a good approximation of the windshield glass. Then he fused the new piece into the hole. When he was finished, he smoothed over the whole piece of glass and saw that it would do.

"Not a bad job, Your Highness," Michael said.

"Michael…," Max started.

"Just a joke, Maxwell," Michael said, smiling. "It's good to see what you can do when you really let loose with your powers.”

Max found himself smiling back. "I also do light house- keeping.”

His smile faded when he saw Liz's face.

"Don't worry, we have a long time to figure something out," he said. "And you can tell us how we're doing. You will probably have a number of flashes between now and…”

Liz gave him a thin smile, and Max saw that she was still afraid. And not just about what will happen in fifteen years, he thought. Her vision had cost Liz something, he knew. The prospect of more like it was not comforting to her.

Another price Liz is paying for being with me, Max thought.

Back in the van, Max drove through the morning, head- ing north. For a moment, he was tempted to get on Inter- state 25… it was the quickest route. And though there was no rush on this trip to nowhere special, he wanted to put as many miles as he could between the group and Roswell as quickly as possible. Then he would relax a bit.

But Max's instincts told him to stay away from major roads, at least for now. They might be watched. They had found that out when Kyle's father had tried to get them out of the state, west to Arizona. Sheriff Valenti hadn't liked what he had heard on the police band, and the group had had to change direction and go north.

Since then, Max had been basically traveling in almost a straight line up from Roswell, which was in the southern part of New Mexico. This route allowed him to steer clear of Santa Fe, which was too large a city, and Los Alamos, where the first atomic bomb was built. It was still a center for nuclear research, with just too much government and mili- tary activity for him. He would feel better when they reached Colorado, which would be sometime that afternoon if they continued at the same speed. He made a mental note to start traveling northwest when they hit Colorado. If he traveled diagonally across Colorado, he would pass well below Pueblo and the Air Force Academy.

He looked over at Liz, who was watching the road speed by. She looked alert, and Max guessed it would be a while before she slept again.

Maybe we can all relax a little when we reach Colorado, Max thought. It was possible, but not likely, he realized.

It won't be long now, Maria thought as she watched the road ahead. She could see mountains out her window in the distance. For years she had been afraid that this would never happen, that she would never leave Roswell, never leave New Mexico.

Maria remembered her school report in sixth grade. New Mexico was one of the largest states in the country (fourth or fifth, she couldn't remember which). But it only had one and a half million people… and over half of those lived in the three major cities, of which Roswell was defi- nitely not one.

And they're about to lose the six of us, she thought. She shot a glance a Michael. They should have been friendlier to illegal aliens.

Michael was sitting in silence, like the rest of them. What drove her crazy was that he seemed almost relaxed, even after that incident with Liz.

Everyone else was on edge. Max seemed particularly tense, with every muscle on his wiry frame taut. And still, somehow he managed to give the impression of brooding even as he drove.

When Michael saw her looking at him, he actually grinned back at her. He was taller than Max, and more thickly built. Now his comfortable frame was sprawled on the seat. Something was definitely going on with him.

Maria knew the other… more normal… members of the group were waiting for the same thing she was. In the dis- tance, she saw the sign. In a few seconds, she could read it: YOU ARE LEAVING NEW MEXICO, LAND OF ENCHANTMENT.

She waited for the exact moment that the van crossed the dividing line.

Then it was over and she saw another sign, which said WELCOME TO COLORADO.

All these years, all that worry of being trapped in Roswell and getting out was as simple as climbing into a van and driving for a few hours.

Colorado wasn't New York. In fact, it looked pretty much like the rocky desert they just left. Still, being there felt good just the same. Maria could tell the others felt like she did. The tension in the car went down a couple of 'notches as soon as they crossed the border. Maybe I'll miss it someday, Maria thought, but not any time soon.

Maria thought about her mother and felt a pang of regret. They hadn't even had a proper good-bye. Well, there will be time far that one day, she thought.

Except for her mom, most of what she liked about home was in the van with her: her best friend, Liz, and then there was Space Boy. What were they to each other now? Was there even a name for it? She shot Michael another glance, allowing herself to think about what might happen to him. What would hap- pen to him if Liz's premonition came true? Whatever he was to her, she couldn't stand the thought of him dying.

"Maybe you don't have to fight," Maria found herself saying out loud.

"What?" Michael said.

"If Liz's dream comes true. Maybe you don't have to fight these aliens. Maybe you can just surrender or some- thing," Maria said, noticing that all eyes in the van except for Max's were suddenly on her.

Michael shook his head. "No way, the other aliens would make fun of us," he said.

Annoyed, Maria said, "This is serious!”

"Yes," Michael replied. "And these people, or whatever they are, are very serious. Our only chance will be to beat them. If it comes to a fight, we go to the mattresses," he said with an air of finality.

Maria was no longer annoyed. Now was angry. "That is such macho crap. What does that even mean?" she shouted.

"It means that when it starts to go down on the street, we don't leave until it's finished," Michael said.

"What does that have to do with mattresses? And I've heard it before. Is it from The Guy Book of Stupid Phrases or something?”

"It's from The Godfather" Max, Michael, and Kyle said in unison.

Maria shook her head. "Do all guys see themselves liv- ing out The Godfather?" she said.