Doctor Frank Steadman put his feet up on the hassock and closed his eyes. It was the first time he'd sat down since he got out of bed that morning and every part of him seemed to protest the least movement..All day at the hospital he had been rushing from one emergency to another, performing surgeries, doing rounds, checking on procedures and arguing with his colleagues about the treatment prescribed for the soldier transferred to them by the military. None of the tests showed anything but the majority wanted to go in and explore; he objected precisely because of the negative tests.

Frank Steadman was not a cut and paste surgeon; money was not the driving force for him, he always tried to avoid the last resort methods most often prescribed by others in his field. He felt that it was quite possibly something psychosomatic and preferred to do his exploring along those lines with the psychiatric department. The debate was costing him more than just the scorn of his colleagues; he was carrying the stress into his domestic life.

"Can I turn on the TV, dad?"

"Huh?" Frank opened his eyes and gazed blankly at his son.

"The TV, can I turn it on?"

"Just give me few minutes quiet okay? I'm really bushed, son."

"Daddy I need to speak to you about next Friday!" Jean, Garret's sister, dashed into the room and bounced heavily onto the sofa next to her father.

"Honey, please, I just-"

"I need two hundred dollars for the entry fee at the auditions next Friday. Daddy I'll just die if I can't go."

He opened his eyes and sighed aloud. "What does your- what does Carol say?"

Jean pouted and clutched at his arm. "She doesn't care. She never cares about what I want."

Garret turned and left the room with a sigh of his own. He knew that any minute there would be a shouting match and his sister would run crying to her room while his dad would withdraw to a sullen silence, locking himself in his den and coming out only for dinner. Carol, his stepmother, was only a few years older than Jean and as far as Garret was concerned they were both big, spoiled baby brats.

When his mother had died, Jean had gone to pieces and had commanded all the attention their father could muster, all at the expense of Garret. Carol had been hired as a housekeeper companion and after a very short while had become their stepmother. His dad decided that it would be an easier situation for all concerned, something with some stability that would compensate for his long absent hours at work. Almost immediately, Jean and Carol had sparked at one another and the ill will just seemed to continue to grow.

Garret didn't care one way or another about Carol. He knew why his dad had married her and he accepted the fact that it was his dad's business. It didn't mean that she was anything to him except the housekeeper/companion that she was before. Garret could take her or leave her. What he couldn't take was the strain she and Jean were putting on his dad.

There was no humour any more, no family closeness and nothing to show that things would improve very soon. He also knew that his dad was getting in trouble somehow at work over some man who was sick and nobody knew what was wrong or what to do and he didn't think they should operate.

He sat on his bed and stared at the floor between his feet. If only he could talk to somebody, to ask somebody for help and advice. Somebody to explain his strange experience with the man out on Larkpoint. He heard Carol calling them for dinner and he slumped down the stairs to the kitchen.

"I can't help it, Carol, it's my job, it's what I do to pay the bills around here"

"What bills? We don't do anything to incur any bills." She put the plates in front of them with a careless bang and yanked out her chair, sitting and frowning.

"Could we please eat once without an argument?" Jean flipped her napkin open and draped it across her lap.

"You mind your manners, young lady." Frank admonished half-heartedly.

"Well it happens every meal-"

"You heard your father," Carol snapped. Jean tossed her napkin on the table and stomped out of the kitchen.

"Get back here, young lady!"

"Leave her, Carol. Let's not ruin everybody's meal."

"If I'm such a bother to the family, why don't I just pack up and leave?"

"Carol, don't be silly. When I get back tonight we'll sit down and talk all this-"

"When you get back tonight I'll either be asleep or gone!"

Garret silently picked up his fork and began to eat.

As soon as his dad left, Jean slammed out the front door and down to the car full of her friends waiting at the curb. She tossed off a cursory wave to Garret and he sadly watched as they sped off down the street. His dad had been called back to the hospital-the reason for the argument at dinner-and Carol had gone to their room and shut the door, ignoring both of them.

A pale moon, partially covered in shadow, coasted above the silhouettes of the trees down the side of the property and Garret watched as a dark grey cloud resembling a truck drifted beneath it and parked as though waiting to be loaded. He wished his real mom was still alive and that his dad wasn't always so tired.

He remembered when he was smaller and they had played in the park on swings and slides, both of his parents taking turns swinging and sliding, the laughter loud and happy in the warm sunshine.

He climbed down from the porch and meandered down the street, kicking bits of twigs and leaves as he went, his thoughts drifting to the strange man named Hector and what he had revealed. He had actually been to the house before Kenny and had found himself a little scared and curious. The strange part was that when he brought up the subject with Kenny, he didn't remember anything about it.

It had been in a sudden rainstorm while Garret was heading for Peter's house that he stopped suddenly, the deep shadows from the field down the street catching his attention. Only a faint glow from the Bandovitch house door light gave any definition to the dark shape in the field.

Garret walked determinedly down the street, giving Peter's house only a quick glance before stepping off the road into the field. He peered into the shadows and gasped in a startled breath. There was the little house and there was the little man, standing on the porch and smiling.

"Welcome, Garret. Would you like to come up and sit and talk?"

"How did you know my name?" Garret, in spite of his sudden fear, stepped onto the porch and sat where the man indicated.

The man smiled and sat on a small chair beside the steps. "My name is Hector Nublado. You may call me Hector." His smile seemed to relax Garret and the boy blushed at his earlier concerns. "You have some questions for me, no?"

Garret gaped at him. He hadn't realized that he did have questions, questions that suddenly seemed to flood his mind. "How did- do you know that? Can you read my mind?"

"Alas, no, Garret. I can only see what I believe the clouds tell me about you."

"The clouds? How can the clouds tell you anything?"

"I can't answer how, I can only say that they do."

"What do they say? I mean what do you see- read.?"

Hector stood and went to the rail, turning and leaning comfortably, his small fingers folded together in front. "What do you want them to tell me?"

Garret sat back and sneered a bit of a smile. "Oh I get it. This is just like a fortuneteller. You get me to tell you things and then you tell me the same stuff back in a different way. I should have known."

"Do you want me to say that your dad won't work as hard and that he will have more time for you?" The voice was soft and calm and Hector's smile abated only a little. Garret grunted in surprise. "Or perhaps that your stepmother will become more understanding and patient with her adopted family?"

Garret's mouth dropped open and he found his throat constricting any speech. He waved a helpless hand and staggered to his feet, leaning against the rail and gaping at Hector.

"Unfortunately," Hector continued with the same calm delivery, "I can't do either. These are things that will or will not happen as the future unfolds. but it is important for you to believe that they will. "

"B-but you- you know things I haven't- I haven't."

"Do you believe it, Garret?"

"I- I don't- I want to, I guess."

Hector rose easily and went down onto the ground in front of the porch and gazed up into the night sky. "There is much new love and friendship to be enjoyed, Garret."

"Huh?" Garret looked up at the sky and then at Hector. "How- where do you see that, it's dark?"

"And you should be getting home before your family becomes concerned." Hector patted him on the back and steered him toward the road. Just as he stepped down onto the road he heard Hector say, "Say hello to Molly Howe, Garret."

He spun around but the field was in dark shadow and he could see nothing of Hector or the house.