The Bad Weather Friend

by Dean Koontz

Benny said, “Fat Bob is a great guy.” “Bob,” Harper said. “Yeah. Nothing scares him.” “That’s not exactly healthy,” Harper said. “What I mean is, he’s courageous.” “People say he’s just like his father.” “Fat Jim.” “Jim,” Harper corrected.

“When it comes to human behavior,” Mengistu said, “if you can imagine people doing something stupid or dangerous, then there are people somewhere who are doing it. Often highly educated people.”

During the past thirty years, they have brought the nation—and much of the world—to the brink of ruin. Rather than admit their errors, they target those who dare note their incompetence. The nicer you are when you disagree with them, the more vicious they are in their treatment of you.”

live among people who don’t want power over others, who don’t think they’re entitled either by birth or education to control everyone else.”

That Sounds nice

“If intimidation doesn’t work?” Benny asked. “I have other techniques.” “I want to know what they are.” Spike sighed. “Well, one of them I call ‘shock and awe.’” “I don’t like the sound of that.” “I sort of do,” said Harper.

Spike wove from lane to lane, always finding an opening in the flow when he needed one, progressing swiftly and smoothly, never delayed at an intersection by a red traffic light, while all around them grid-sapping four-thousand-pound Teslas and lighter-weight gas hogs moved through the night like weary red corpuscles shuddering through arteries clogged with cholesterol.

That motive, if not forgotten, had become an appendix to the larger issue of curiosity, a virtue that had allowed humanity to rise from caves to the surface of the moon, while also resulting in deaths beyond counting. Then there was the attraction—the thrill—of all things mysterious, dark, hidden, and occult. Especially for young people trapped and being propagandized in the stupefying depths of modern education, the unknown and the unknowable offered the possibility of discovering the meaning of life that they had thus far been told did not exist.

“She sounds like a nice lady. I don’t want her to feel like we don’t value her input.” Although he hesitated, Benny then said, “You do know that’s just a kind of recording, not a live person making recommendations and talking you real time through the route.” “Who doesn’t know that? Nevertheless, whoever gave the system her voice was

I can’t do more. My mission is to protect you, Benjamin, not to save the world. None of us can save the world. The world has to save itself. It knows the way.”

A lesson we could all take away.

“Piece of cake,” Spike confidently declared as he ate a piece of cake.