I stayed too long, he decided. It's not as if I wanted to shake anybody's hand. I never have this problem in a large city any more. They move me about in robot-controlled units, which they sterilize afterward; they give me a whole ward to myself, which they sterilize afterward; I only see a few people--immediately after catharsis; and I depart the way I arrived. It's been years since I visited a town this small for a job like this. I got careless. It's all my fault. It would have been all right if I hadn't talked too long after dinner. It _would_ have been all right. I got careless.

He saw a casket being loaded onto a hearse. Around the corner, another hearse waited.

Then it's not a plague ... yet? he decided. At that stage, people start burning bodies. They stay off the streets.

He glanced back, already knowing from the sounds they made what it was that he would see.

The individuals following him had become about a dozen. He did not look back again. Among the small noises that they made, he heard "H" spoken, several times.

Vehicles passed him, moving slowly. He did not look at them, consciously, though it seemed that there were many eyes fixed upon him.

He reached the center of town, passing along a small square situated there, a statue of some local hero/patriot/ benefactor turning green at its center.

He heard someone call out something in a language that he did not understand. He began to hurry; and now the sound of footfalls became more distinct at his back, as if the crowd had grown.

What were the words that had been spoken? he wondered.

He passed a church, and the sound of its bell was very loud as he moved before it. From behind him, he heard a woman utter an oath.

The touch of fear grew stronger. The sun had dropped a beautiful day about him, but he no longer took pleasure in its presence.