He was a short man with a fully loaded rifle and a silly grin on his face. He paused in front of the pickup's headlights and looked at the license plate. Then he glanced at James and Heather. Finally, he made a smart, military turn, marched forward four steps and stopped. He turned again, marched down the driver's side of the pickup and turned once more. His face was less than six inches from James. Then, he grinned, "Mister McClurg, I assume."

James swallowed hard and slowly nodded his head.

"We've been expecting you. You're Dad said your Uncle Harry needs help in his packing shed."

Heather closed her eyes and let her head drop, "Peach fuzz, yuk!"

Long after the station shut down, Max, Collin and Sarah were still wide-awake. Their tangled nerves felt every vibration in the earth and their ears caught even the softest noise. The volume was turned way down low, but they could still hear the Ham's.

Then Max began to talk about Candy, "My wife tells me we met in a sand box at age three, but I don't remember it. She decided I loved her and that was that. We grew up next-door neighbors and when I went off to college, I realized I did love her. I missed her so much, I got off the plane, grabbed a phone and proposed. She said yes, and we are still best friends." He thoughtfully paused for a moment, then went on, "When she comes home, I'm taking all of them on the best vacation ever."