This work is copyright M.A. Mohanraj 1994, all rights reserved. Please don't repost this or make it publically accessible via FTP, mail server, or archive site without my explicit permission.
Permission is granted for one hard copy for personal use.
The girl walked slowly up and down the moonlit beach, pausing occasionally to search out a shell and hurl it into the lake. It's two a.m. The voice should have startled her, but she only nodded in acknowledgement as he came up behind her. It's not safe out here at night. She started to walk up off the beach onto the long stretch of concrete and broken rocks reaching towards the Chicago skyline.