Chapter 1

The space rock moves past the satellite and enters the earth’s atmosphere, creating a little fire on the dark side of this planet, miles from the ground. An airplane flies above the clouds of this planet. A small piece of rock remains, moving through the air. It gains speed as it falls. It moves into the clouds and moisture touches rock. Then it moves below the clouds and some rain and this small rock collide as both fall to the ground. There are buildings here with lights on, as the rock moves to the ground it nears these lights and becomes parallel with them and passes below them. The rock nears a part of ground that is covered is pavement. A car drives on the pavement. As the rock nears the ground the car drives into it, and the rock strikes the windshield. The car skids in the rain.

“What the fuck?” The driver yells as he loses control of the vehicle on the road. The car turns one and a half rotations and comes to a stop.

“What the fuck was that, man?” Someone says from the backseat.

“I dunno. It looked like a humming bird or a little bat or something.” The driver leans forward and looks at a small crack in the windshield. “It cracked the windshield.”

“It cracked the windshield? What cracked the windshield?” Someone wearing a yellow T-shirt says from the backseat.

“That little fucking batbird thing. It cracked the windshield.”

The person in the yellow T-shirt leans forward between the two front seats, touching the people sitting in the front with their fingers. “Oh yeah, it cracked the windshield a little there.”

“Well, is everyone okay?” The driver says looking at each person in the car. Each person nods to each other. Everyone is okay. The driver puts the car in drive. “Alright then, back at it, WOOOOOOOOOO.” The driver yells as he accelerates toward the intersection.

A person in the backseat screams out the window at a cat crossing the street as the car turns the corner. "Party! Party! WOOOO. See you at the party you little soggy-" The voice trails off as the distance grows.

The rock landed in a puddle near an incline in the sidewalk next to the gated entrance of a parking lot. The cat nears the rock as it walks along the side of the building staying under the awning where it can. The cat has on a fluorescent green collar with a heart shaped tag on it. The tag reflects in the streetlight, it says: COLESLAW #113578836. Coleslaw continues up the street, eventually moving out of the light, where the car had come from earlier. Eventually the rain stops and the planet rotates so that this part is in the sun. After a few hours the puddle dries and the rock sits on the street. A couple of children wearing backpacks walk up with street with their mother. One of the kids kicks the rock as they walk. The rock is kicked two and a half blocks, and as the mother and children near the bus stop the child stands in the road for a second. The rock sits on the asphalt, the small shoe makes contact and it rolls into a drain where it is carried by a current of old rainwater towards the treatment plant.

The children wait at the bus stop with their mother. The bus arrives. The two of them run up the stairs silently to find a seat on the bus. The mother puts a foot on the bottom step.

“How ya doin, Peggy?” The mother says to the driver.

“Oh, it’s okay. Nothing doing today really. I am looking forward to relaxing tonight.”

“You have special plans or something?”

“Oh, no no. I just don’t have any other work tonight, so after I drop these guys off.” Peggy points into the mostly empty bus with her thumb. “I am going to kick my feet up and see what TV looks like these days.”

“Well that sounds nice. Have a good morning, Peggy.”

“You too, Heather.” Peggy pushes the lever to close the two doors to the bus.