alexander pulled out a few sandwiches and sodas from his bag . we drank , kissed , and laughed . as alexander put the wrappers in his backpack , we heard fluttering sounds above us and spotted a few bats flying overhead . '' they come in and out during the night with food , '' alexander said . '' could valentine have been one of those
bats

a gargantuan pile of wood lay near its stern side , stacked up and ready for nailing against its side where a large hole gaped open . a perfect place to begin . giorgio stuck a long rag into a crease in the side of the cask and motioned to the other man . '' get ready . '' flint struck steel and caught fire on the
rag

for the last two weeks he had fallen asleep to awaken with an image of europe breaking in two and upending into the atlantic . '' how could you possibly know that ? '' everett burst out . '' our best scientists claim it was a movement of the earth 's crust caused by the proximity of the planets . it 's not supposed to happen again for another hundred thousand years . '' miles smiled as if at an inner joke , and then turned to face
everett