red the house.

From the way he looked at her he was surprised to find her still in
the kitchen.

"You still up?" His face was flushed, his tongue thick.

"Mac," she said, not knowing how to begin. "Where is that hand?"

"You still worried about that?" He took off his coat and threw it on
the table.

"But Mac! They've come after it."

He looked at her dully. "Who's come after it?"

"The aliens--from the ship. There's one of them in the yard. Look out
the window."

He turned around and saw the stationary figure in the yard. He took a
deep breath. "So that's one of 'em, eh?" He laughed in a way that
chilled her, then went to the cupboard and reached for his shotgun on
the wall next to it.

Alice put her hand on his shoulders and he stopped before he touched
the gun.

"Listen, Mac. They need that hand. It belongs to one of their men and
they need it because they're going to put it back on and it will be as
good as new. Then they're going to leave."

He looked down at her with bloodshot, narrow eyes and she could see
where tobacco had run out of the corner of his mouth and the only
thing she could think of was what it would look like on the overalls
when she'd wash them.

"That thing out there," Mac said, "ain't got no business 'round here
scarin' the pigs and chickens. And I aim to get it."

"I wish you had told me where the hand is," Alice said, her eyes
scalded with tears. "I tried to find it. I looked everywhere. If I had
found it I would have given it to him and now they'd be gone."

He shoved her from him rudely. "Jest like a woman to do a thing like that.
And without even askin' me." He was breathing hard and he moved to the
window to look at the alien again. "You, out there. You want that hand,
eh?" He laughed again, then turned to her. "You looked for it. That's what
you said. Well, you jest looked in the wrong place. I hid it good." He
went over to his coat and withdrew a newspaper-wrapped package from one of
the pockets. He unfolded it on the table. It was the hand.

"Please take it out to him, Mac," Alice said. "He's waiting for it."

His face was sour and his lips a sneer. "Give it to him, hell," he
said. "Dobie brought it here, didn't he? I've a mind to let Dobie have
it."

"No, No!"

Mac put his hands on the table, stared down at the hand and shook his
head. "But Dobie don't deserve it."

He picked up the hand and a queasiness prevented Alice from looking
directly at it.

"It's a m