"And who was she?"

"Some earth spirit. A goddess. My Mother. I don't know. The point is, she said to us: 'I need to know whether or not I should shake this city to pieces.'"

"Oh, my God."

"So then everybody starts talking at once, saying how cruel you people are, and how stupid and destructive."

"And what did you say?"

"I shut up. I mean we've had some fine times, you and me, but it put me in a spin, hearing all these terrible stories. I didn't know what to think."

"So there was a vote of some kind?"

"Oh yes."

Ralph studied Duffy's brown eyes, looking for some clue as to the result. "And?" he said, his voice a whisper.

"I'm not allowed--" He stopped, ears pricked. "Oh-oh." he murmured.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't you feel it?" he was up from the table now and heading for the door.

A moment later, the aftershock came rolling through the house. The lights went out. The windows rattled. The walls creaked.

This time, Ralph was fast. Arms over his head to keep his skull from a further beating, he raced across the shuddering ground and out the front door, not looking back until he made it to the safety of the street. From there, he had all too fine a view of his house collapsing, the already wounded walls folding in upon themselves and the roof coming down in the rubble, burying in one moment all he'd called his own.

He called Kathleen from Vince's place, to tell her the news. She said that she was sorry, but then, they'd said that to each other countless times and not really meant it. Before the conversation ended, he asked if she was planning to come back out to California anytime soon. She told him no.

"You can rebuild," Vince said the next day when they went to sort through the rubble. "The government's already promised interest-free loans, and you've got the insurance."

It was true. Of course he could rebuild. Stronger foundations next time. More steel, more concrete. But right now, the thought sickened him.