The Klaatu Terminus Read Online Free

you just dry some nettles, or alfalfa, or something legal?”
    Ronnie looked offended. “That would be dishonest!”
    Kosh wasn’t sure if he was kidding.
    The goat-cheese-and-arugula burger was like nothing Kosh had ever tasted before. The flavors were on the skunky, funky side, but they were fascinating. He took another bite.
    “Well?” Ronnie said.
    “I like it,” Kosh said.
    “I can smell it from here. Almost as bad as Limburger.”
    “I like Limburger,” Kosh said.
    “You would. Speaking of reeking, how you liking life without Adrian?”
    “I like it all right.” Kosh was trying to figure out which part of what he was tasting was the cheese, and which was the arugula.
    “Hard to believe he’s leaving Emily for so long. I bet she hooks up with somebody else. She’s a hottie.”
    “They’re
engaged
,” Kosh said, irritated.
    “Good-looking girl like that, man, if it was me leaving town I’d worry. You think she’d go out with me? A little summer romance before she shackles herself to Adrian?”
    “I don’t think you’re up to her standards.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Well, for one thing, you’re kind of a jerk.”
    Ronnie put down his burger and stared at Kosh, then broke out laughing.
    “You got a point,” he said.
    They finished their meal quickly. After the waitress brought their check, Ronnie asked Kosh if he had any money.
    “I thought you were buying,” Kosh said.
    “I am! As soon as we move that weed, I’m golden. I’m just a little short right now.”
    “How much do you have?”
    “Okay, I’m a
lot
short. I’ll pay you back as soon as I score some cash.”
    Resignedly, Kosh paid the bill. He’d half expected that things would go that way. They always did, with Ronnie.
    It took them an hour to find Ronnie’s guy’s apartment, a beat-up fourplex a mile off campus. They parked their bikes under a tree across the street. Ronnie unstrapped his backpack from the bike and threw it over his shoulder.
    “Let’s do it,” he said.
    “How about I just wait here,” Kosh said.
    “What, you want me to go in alone?”
    “You get cracked, you’re on your own.”
    For once, Ronnie couldn’t convince him otherwise.
    “Okay then, but you don’t get a cut.”
    “When was I ever going to get a cut?” Kosh said.
    Kosh waited by the bikes as Ronnie entered the building. Half an hour later, he was still waiting. He checked his pocket watch. Two thirty. He had to be at work by five, and it would take him a couple of hours to get back to Hopewell.
Another ten minutes
, he thought,
then I’m out of here
.
    Ten more minutes passed. Kosh straddled his bike and put on his helmet. Ronnie was probably sitting in the guy’s living room, drinking beer and talking. But if he was in some kind of trouble . . . “Aw, crap,” Kosh muttered. He got off his bike and started across the street.
    He was halfway there when a cop car rounded the corner. Kosh turned and walked back to his bike, trying to act casual. A second squad car appeared from the opposite direction. Four policemen, two from each car, ran into the building. Kosh started his bike. He rode halfway down the block, then pulled over and watched. Five minutes later, the police emerged with Ronnie and another guy, in handcuffs.
    Kosh dropped his bike into gear and took off for Hopewell. Apparently, lunch was on him.

E MILY R YAN FEARED SHE WAS GOING MAD
.
    Seated on the edge of her bed, she stared fiercely at the big white dress hanging on her closet door. Greta had extracted it from a trunk in the attic three days ago. It still smelled faintly of mothballs. Emily had not yet summoned the courage to try it on.
    She shifted her gaze and watched a purplish afterimage form on the white wall. Like a ghost.
    Emily did not want to believe in ghosts.
    But she kept seeing them. She had been seeing them ever since she could remember.
    She looked back at the wedding dress, at the intricate beadwork and lace on the upper bodice and at the ends