Now:

     "Hey! You with the shit!"

     Whisper pretended not to hear him.

     People packed Rags Boulevard, so many people that their bodies pressed tight together as they all progressed slowly forward, one way going east, the other west, all human for all anyone knew, but every size and shape and gender of human.

     But no one really knew that for certain about that, either, because the fashion in Rags Boulevard was for everyone to travel draped in rags.

     Crickley fought the mob to get to her.

     "Hey! Stop! I'm talking to you!"

     Whisper felt a hand on her shoulder.

     Oh no! Oh no!

     She went rigid at first, then separated herself from Crickley's hand to continue forward.

     She didn't turn to look back until she got ten paces away.

     Cricikley hadn't moved a muscle, his hand outstretched as if it still gripped Whisper's shoulder.

     The expression on his face was a total blank.

     "Hey!" belted out another voice, a female voice this time.

​     Oh no! Oh no!

CONTINUE