It
was late; the moon was playing hide and seek with the scurrying
clouds, and a cool wind writhed through the tall stand of poplars
which hid the police car.
An old jalopy came rattling and roaring down the road. Cam Mortimer
clocked it at thirty over the limit, whistled in surprise that
the old heap could travel so fast, and put his own car into gear.
A flick of a switch set the police lights flashing.
For half a minute it looked as if the speeding driver meant to
ignore Cam; then the jalopy slowed and pulled to the side of the
road. Cam approached the driver's window with his usual caution.
The young man driving looked sickly in the glare of the police
car's headlights. He chewed his ragged beard.
"S-sorry, officer. Them aliens abducted my girlfriend and
now she's pregnant with eighty eight thousand of them, and I gotta
get her to the hospital afore she explodes."
"Uh-huh," Cam sniffed, but he couldn't smell dope. That
surprised him. He bent his head to examine the passenger. "Jiminy
Cricket." The girl was fat, her t shirt straining over her
ample stomach, and her stomach had wriggled. Cam looked again.
Yep, definitely wriggled.
"Get out of the car with your hands up. Don't make any funny
moves," Cam paused, recognising the irony even as he unholstered
his gun.
The driver emerged first; jittering from foot to foot before assuming
the position, hands flat against the car, legs spread. His right
knee twitched. The female passenger was slower and, despite Cam's
instructions, emerged clutching her stomach.
Cam's jaw dropped. A whole lot of wriggling was going on and the
woman looked agonised.
"Uh, are you okay, ma'am?"
"No-oo," the young woman slumped against the hood. "This
was not a good idea." She shoved both hands under her shirt.
The young man whimpered, and Cam tensed.
The woman drew out a flower print pillowcase. Her figure deflated
to ordinary proportions, but the pillowcase continued to wriggle.
Cam eyed it, fascinated. The woman noticed his interest.
"Would you like a look, officer?"
The young man whimpered again. Cam thought he heard a desperate
"no", but he ignored it. He re-holstered his gun, peered
into the sack, and fainted.
#
"How was I to know he was snake phobic?" the woman sounded
aggrieved.
The young man dragged Cam's body out of the car's path. "We
gotta get outta here. A guy in Manton said he'd buy all the baby
rare banded pythons we can supply. Now, tuck them back where they'll
stay warm, and let's go."
The woman did so, grumbling. "Huh, alien babies. Next you'll
be taking photos for the papers."
The man grinned, accelerating away. "Buckle up, mama, cos
you never know your luck in a small town."
**************
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