Status Updates From Lot Lizards

An elderly woman in the far rear corner of the restaurant began to sing “Rock of Ages” in a frail, cracked voice and, a few lines into the hymn, others joined her, until nearly everyone on that side of the restaurant was singing, some with spirit, others in mournful voices that wandered off key.

“Not me,” she whispered to herself, as she often did, eyes closed as if she were praying. “Not me. I’ll never become like that. Not me.” But her eyes snapped open wide suddenly and she stared into the dark trying not to shudder. She felt the Queen’s presence within her. As always when she voiced her planned independence, Amy could feel that presence laughing…

He was silent for a long time, so long that Jon began to think he’d just…slipped away, or something. Then he nodded. Looked Jon in the eyes. And speaking slowly and monotonously, he began to tell Jon what had happened to him in the last year. As he listened, Jon was filled slowly with a fear much colder than the snowy night outside…

She wore a long dark coat and its hem snapped around her legs in the wind; a cap was pulled down over her head and long fair hair blew around her face and neck. In the glare of the lamp high above her, the girl’s face looked gaunt and very pale, as if her skin were caked with flour. She didn’t move, just stood stiffly in the flurry of snow, hands in her coat pockets, watching.