324 



AFTERMATH 



"This is growing monotonous," said Flower 

 Hat one afternoon, as the sun went down with a 

 piercing, cold yellow glow that promised black 

 frost. "I don't like to see everything at once, and 

 the same thing all the time. It 's like having one's 

 Christmas presents given with the wrappings off, 

 just things, with no surprises." 



Before midnight a storm set in. The 

 weather changed again the next 

 day, and fog wrapped the land- 



