The Uninvited (12 page)

Kiri shuddered. “I
hate
roaches!”

Brett had to grin. “They've been around for half a billion years, honey—give or take a million or two—and remained virtually unchanged. I read in an article that there are scientists who claim that someday roaches will take over the earth.”

She looked at him to see if he was serious, horror in her eyes. “Are you putting me on?”

“No. They seemed quite serious about it. The article said roaches are practically indestructible. They can be frozen, thawed out, and can walk away from that experience. In many cases, radiation won't harm them. They've found roaches scurrying about after atomic bomb tests. They grow immune to every kind of pesticide and insecticide we spray on them, at them, and around them. The article went on to say that if a form of mutant roach were to crawl out of the earth, as hardy as the little ones are, well, you can guess the rest.”

He fell silent, as his thoughts returned to the misshapen creature he'd found in his home that morning. In the jar, the bug had hissed, emitting a foul odor that had made Brett slightly nauseated and weak for a few seconds. The bug had opened its mouth, exposing teeth that were more like fangs.

Kiri was looking at him strangely, and Brett smiled at her, thinking what a truly gorgeous person she was, and how fortunate he was to be seeing her. In love with her, he corrected, and, thank God, she in love with him. A tall and shapely lady, with shining black hair and deep blue eyes. A magnificent figure, and a brilliant mind. Many men were afraid of her, wary of her biting wit. Kiri spoke her mind, wherever and whenever she felt like it—which was often. Originally from Kansas, she was a graduate of LSU who had elected to remain in Louisiana.

Hey?” She touched his hand. “Come back to me. I'm jealous. Where were you for the last couple of minutes?”

“Thinking about how much I love you,” he said gently.

She told him how much she loved him, then leaned over and whispered in his ear, telling him a few other things she had in mind for that evening.

“Good God, Kiri! I'm not sure that's possible.”

“Me either. But won't it be fun trying? Hey, you seem to know a lot about roaches, old buddy of mine. You collect them, maybe? Believe me, before this relationship of ours continues, I'd like to know.”

No,” Brett laughed.
Hardly. I just know what I read about them.” He touched her hand. “I gather everything is still on for tonight?”

“We're supposed to be at the Campbell's at seven-thirty. But you be at my house at five.” She leered at him.

“All right, kids!” Dick Plano grinned at them from the door of the lounge. “Break it up. I swear you two are as sickening as a couple of teenagers. I wish you'd get married and stop all this mooning about.”

Kiri laughed, her humor fading as she looked at the Mason Jar in Dick's hands. “Good Lord!” she blurted. “What the hell is that thing?”

Dick placed the jar on the table and pulled himself a mug of coffee. He took a sip. “Ahh, gold ole Louisiana coffee and chicory—can't beat it. I gather, Brett, you haven't told your sweetie-pie of your find this morning?”

“No,” Brett said, accustomed to Dick's making fun of their relationship, knowing he meant nothing by his comments. He looked at Kiri. “You said a moment ago I seemed to know a great deal about roaches. I really don't, but I did find that thing in my bedroom this morning.” He grinned. “And don't make anything vulgar out of that.”

“She really has a dirty mind, doesn't she?” Dick smiled.

“Hell with you both,” Kiri muttered, looking closely at the large bug. She grimaced her disgust. “That's not like any roach I've ever seen. It looks . . . savage.”

“Believe me, it is,” said the science teacher. “And it isn't really a roach. It's a mutant, I think. Either that, or we've discovered part of the missing link. God help us all.”

Both Kiri and Brett remembered what he'd said a few moments before, about a strain of mutant roaches crawling out of the earth.

Kiri jumped as the mutant hissed and clicked its jaws. “Phew!” she waved her hand. “That smell is nauseating.”

“Yes,” Dick said. “Isn't it. Most roaches emit a slightly nauseating and paralyzing secretion when they attack. But that thing”—he pointed—
takes the cake.”

“Please don't talk about food,” Kiri said. “And would you be kind enough to remove that disgusting creature from view?”

Dick set the jar on a ledge behind him.

“A little more to the right, please,” Kiri ordered. “That thing is looking at me.”

Dick obliged, muttering under his breath.

“I don't mean to appear ignorant,” Kiri said. “And no smart remarks from either of you men, but what did you mean by a mutant?”

Dick stirred his coffee for a few seconds.
Well, as you may or may not know, the roach is part of the Orthoptera family.”

“I must confess,” Brett said, “I really did not know.”

“Fascinating bit of news,” Kiri said.

“I just knew it would titillate you both. Anyway, Orthoptera means straight wings. The order includes the grasshopper, the praying mantis, the cricket, the katydid, and the walking stick.” He turned around in his chair. “This thing”—he tapped the jar and the creature spun around, glaring at the offending, tapping finger, trying to bite through the thick glass—
has characteristics of all five of those. Now, there are hundreds of species. But as for this mutant-and that's what it isit's all jumbled up between species. It's rugged, very strong, very aggressive and it has sharp teeth. Almost fanged.”

Let's see,” Kiri said. “Ah, I remember from distant classes. That's an arthropod, right? But I didn't think they had teeth.”

“Not as we think of teeth, they don't. But this damn thing sure does.”

“I see,” Kiri said. “That's why you think it's a mutant.” She looked at the creature, looking at her.

“Yes,” Dick replied. “Among other things.”

“How big is it?” Brett asked.

“Near as I can tell without running the risk of being bitten, about six and three quarter inches. I haven't found a like jar to weigh it. But that thing is hostile—savage. Very aggressive, and, in that sense, very unlike its cousin, the common, everyday roach.”

“Isn't the praying mantis aggressive?” Brett asked. “I used to hear all sorts of wild tales about the mantis. That thing kind of looks like a praying mantis.”

“Most of those old tales about the praying mantis are pure crap,” Dick said. “But the mantis is cannibalistic and voracious. And yes, our bug does resemble—in its front parts—the praying mantis. But it also has the characteristics of at least five species of roaches. Another reason why I called it a mutant.”

Kiri shuddered. “I wonder if there are any more of them around?”