“Gee-Gee, what’s up?”

“Keep looking. Keep watching.”

“Holy shit!”

“What’s the matter, Frannie?” Magda asked.

“Could I have some more pancakes, Aunt Magda?”

“Of course, honey. You all right, Frannie?”

“Yeah.”

Out in the yard the swings were not the only things that were gone. As I watched, the entire landscape changed. It wasn’t fast like a time-lapse film. But if you watched one spot for a few seconds you’d see it and everything around it change to one degree or another. Behind where the swings had stood was a wooden fence. A few months earlier, Johnny Petangles and I spent a Sunday afternoon painting it brick red. In the 1960s when the Bayer family lived in the house the fence was white. And it had been that white a few minutes ago when the swings stood in front of it. Now there were no swings and the fence was green. Then it gradually became navy blue, white again, a different shade of green, then brick red. When I bought the house the fence was white. I had painted it that second shade of green and only recently covered it with the red.

While the colors of the fence changed, so did objects on or near it. The first thing I noticed was a large orange flowerpot hung from the top of the fence on a piece of what looked like black coat hanger. Orange pot on white fence. The pot disappeared and so did the white behind it. A silver BMX bicycle leaning against the fence appeared and disappeared. Just like that. A brown basketball here and gone. A yellow Big Wheels tricycle. Blip blip blip—they all showed for a few seconds and then were gone.

Barely able to tear my eyes from this fast-forward show, I asked Pauline if she could see it too.

“See what?”

“All the things changing out there.” I pointed. “Do you see the silver bicycle? Look! Now it’s gone.”

Pauline gave me a push. “What bicycle? What are you talking about?”

I looked at Gee-Gee. Shaking his head, he mouthed the words, “She can’t see.”

Frustrated, I went back to the view. “Holy shit!”

“Why do you keep saying that, Frannie?”

Because for maybe five seconds I saw my old pal Sam Bayer, age maybe fifteen, standing completely naked in front of the fence and pissing on the lawn. I think I laughed and gasped but had no time to think about it because it was gone too fast. Up popped one of those cheapo, above-the-ground swimming pools. Two kids frolicked in it until they frolicked right back into invisibility.

“This is stupid,” Pauline said and stomped out.

A little later the telephone rang. Magda went to get it. I heard her leave the room. Gee-Gee came up behind me. “They’re bringing the world out there back to now. But they got to do it slow, like a diver coming up after he’s been too deep in the water. That’s why I said before we had to get back here. They needed to fix everything that Astopel fucked up.”

“Nothing can happen to us while we’re in here?”

He shook his head.

“But if we were out there—”

“We’d probably get zapped. That’s what happened to Pauline’s tattoo, I guess.”

The history of my backyard in a few minutes. The thirty-year history of Crane’s View in a few minutes. What was going on all over town while we looked out the window? I would have given anything to be standing in the middle of Main Street at that moment.

“So they’re bringing the world out there back up to date? To today?”

“Right.”

“They meaning aliens?”

“Right.”

“Then how come you’re still here?”

“Because I guess you need me, Uncle Frannie.”

“Like I need a brain tumor.”

A large basset hound walked into sight, collapsed on the ground, started to scratch itself, and disappeared. Voila “The Judge.” The dog belonged to the Van Gelder family who owned the house before me. It was infamous around town for repeatedly being hit by both cars and trucks and surviving. It also smelled like a swamp, but I suppose that’s the price a dog pays for having nine lives. The Judge died peacefully of old age in its bed a month before the Van Gelders moved out.

As the fence turned red again, my vintage Briggs and Stratton lawnmower reappeared nearby. Magda came back into the room holding the portable phone. “It’s George. He says it’s important.”

I took the phone. Gee-Gee went back to the table and began eating again. “George. What’s up?”

“The dog is back, Frannie. It’s sitting next to me right now.”

“Your dog? Chuck?”

“Chuck and Old Vertue. They’re sitting side by side in my living room. And it’s alive, Frannie. Old Vertue’s alive again. And there’s someone here you’ve got to meet. He’s the one who brought them. He says he knows you. His name is Floon?”

“Caz de Floon,” Floon called out in the background.

“I’m coming over.” I pressed the disconnect button on the phone and let my arm drop to my side.

“Are Gee-Gee’s friends here?” my beautiful wife asked.

“Yeah. One’s over at George’s house. We’re going over to get him.”

The boy and I stood on the safe side of the front door. I had my hand on the doorknob. He had his on a cinnamon bun Magda warmed for him to eat on the way.

“Do you think it’s safe to go outside again?”

He bit into the bun and spoke through the gooey sweet. “We waited long enough to see if anything else would change after your fence turned red again. I’d say we’re back to today. Hey, there’s really only one way to find out—”

Eyes squinted almost shut I opened the door. I guess I figured if either the end of the world or creatures from outer space were waiting outside, by closing my eyes I could make them go away.

Things looked all right. I slowly let out my breath. What exactly had Crane’s View, or at least my street, looked like a day ago? The white Saturn was parked in front of the house across the street and not my dad’s Jaguar. Check. The jumbo hammock hung on the porch next door. Check. My motorcycle stood like a mean yellow toad in the driveway. Check. All systems go.

Taking it slow and uneasy, I walked down the porch steps. When I reached the last one, a step away from terror firma, something grabbed my shoulder and jerked me backward.

“Watch out!”

I was so shook up that I forgot to have a heart attack. Gee-Gee was laughing like a fool. I grabbed his hand on my shoulder and made to flip him. He shouted, “No, don’t! My knee! My knee’s screwed up!”

“Why the hell did you do that? Do you think that’s funny?”

“Take it easy. It was a joke. Lighten up, man.”

“Lighten up with all this shit going on? Are you stupid?”

“No, Uncle Frannie, I’m you.”

“Well then, behave yourself like me. I mean… Look, let’s just go and stop fucking around, okay?”

Pauline called out from our bedroom window. “Bye, Gee-Gee. See you in a little while!” She was leaning on the sill and it did not look like she was wearing a shirt.

“Bye, Pauline! I’ll be back soon.”

“Let’s take the Ducati. It’ll be faster.”

He shook his head. “Bad idea, boss. Better to walk there.”

“Why?”

“Look around. Look at the trees and the street. They’re still working on bringing things back to now, can’t you see? We’re not up to full power here yet.”

After a heavy rain the world is different for a while. Rich new smells are everyplace, grass shines, leaves on the trees too as they drip water and change color. Branches fly up, things steam, animals reemerge from their hiding places shaking off water with furious twitches ... all small things but all things. When I did what Gee-Gee said and once again paid close attention to the things around me, I saw he was right—it would not be a good idea to drive to George’s house. Because like the world after a rainstorm, everything around me seemed to be changing too. The aliens had brought us back up to the correct time, true, but they weren’t finished yet and that was now evident.