I met Karese at Lake Travis. Those of you who've never been to Central Texas probably image hill country, along the eastern edge of the Edwards plateau, to be pretty much like the panhandle or the dry Pecos region. Most people have trouble getting a handle on Texas. After all, it is rather big. Texas has pretty much everything that you can imagine, except sheer elevation. Depends in what part of the state you happen to be standing.
      Part of it is dry and full of sand and tumbleweeds. Yes, cactus grow in Texas. But so do hundred and fifty foot oaks. The great southern forest has its boundary well over a hundred miles into Texas. Pines out the ear. Your house could well have been framed from Texas pine.
      Then you have the rolling hills where the flowers of Texas spring are so prolific, like an ocean of color. Add another hundred and fifty miles. Beige dirt, red dirt, black dirt, all fertile. The Brazos Valley, the richest expanse of soil on the face of the earth, lies within this region. All of this sits just north of the flat saltgrass coastal plains. You start getting close to plateau, and you have hill country, maybe eighty, ninety miles wide, running from south of San Antonio up to nearing the panhandle. There are streets in Austin, the capital, that are as steep as the roads in Colorado's Rockies. Not as long, perhaps, but the straight highways are expensive.
      To no coincidence, the river that bisects Austin is the Colorado River. The huge adjusting lake to the northwest of Austin is Lake Travis. You have all kinds of people in Austin. Old, young, hip, square, straight, gay, white, Hispanic, and black. It generally votes liberal, but there is also the conservative community. Everyone is very much into their own thing. It often takes a crowbar to shake them loose, if that. So looks are relatively important in Austin. Halloween and New Year's Eve are the favorite holidays there, for the costumes.
      The place can get wild, and it can be a pain. You never know just how much of what kind of intensity to expect when meeting someone. It may be warm, like the hospitality that the South still manages to extend. You could be ignored as
      a distraction. It could be cool, or it could get downright nasty. That hot Texas sun does things to normal people that are hard to define. But some of them can be downright weird. California has no monopoly on deviance and distortion. In Texas, a cowboy hat is no more an indicator of a person's personality that is the current weather conditions. A hat keeps your noggin from boiling over. Summer is hot in Texas. May not get as high as Arizona on the thermometer, but Arizona isn't next to the Gulf either. Ninety eight in Houston is worse than a hundred and thirteen in Tuscon.
      So it should come as no surprise that Texans of all background have three things in common during the summer. The first is air conditioning. Only the poverty strickened don't consider it to be the number one survival need. The second is a love of water. In the eastern half of Texas, no one is over fifty miles from a large public body of water. Boating, sailing, skiing, swimming. Doesn't matter as long as you get wet. The third is a love of the night. Summer nights in Texas are one long party.
      Lake Travis offered all of these. The water is clear, and you can see twenty, thirty feet deep at times. The shoreline is basically rock, though there are sand beaches. And there is always a group of places where skinny dipping is the rule, rather than the exception. There's always a twenty two foot boat with a business man at the wheel and his passengers with binoculars. And there is usually some bearded skinny guy waving back, exposing himself plainly to them.
      Nobody goes there if it offends them. There are plenty of places where social rules are observed. Travis is a big long lake. The spot usually changes in time. A place is claimed and then it gets popular, then the bike gangs show up and lose their tempers. The junkies follow. So it changes. A few have stayed in one place, because the cliffs are too steep for Harleys and junkies. It was at one such place that I met Karese for the first time.
      It was a sunny Saturday, and I was out working on my tan lines, trying to get rid of them, dipping when the rock got too hot. I was feeling much like a lizard, perched in the sun, when I heard a desperate voice.
      "She hasn't come up! I can't find her!"
      I sat up and listened, as did most of the people in earshot. I slipped into the water. "Look for her then! Every second counts!" I hollered and dove. As I made my way through the water, I heard splashes above from down the shoreline. I saw a form on the bottom, maybe forty feet away. I grabbed another breath of air and power dove. I reached her as a thin stream of bubbles trickled from her mouth. I put my mouth over hers and blew all of my breath into her. I surfaced quickly, shouted "Here!" and dove again.
      I gave her part of my breath, then studied her predicament. Her foot was wedged in between two sizable rocks. I gave her the rest of my breath and surfaced. I breathed deeply and dove again. I braced myself and gave everything that I had to the rock on top. It moved slightly. I stooped, braced on the rock, and pulled her leg free. I aim her at the surface and shoved. I kicked off of the bottom and followed her up. We broke about the same time. Her arms caught me, and we both panted as I tread water for the both of us. A cheer went up from the bank. Karese kissed me for the first time, breath transfer not counting.
      I manage to get her to shift her grip on me and I swam us to the shore. Her ankle was of no use in swimming, so she clung to me. I got her to the shoreline and a flock of hands lifted her from the water. She was set down in the shade and a crowd, all nude, moved in around her to help. The ledge was too crowded to join, so I clung to the rock and stayed in the water, getting my breath and glad that the attention wasn't on me. I'm not particularly shy, but to stand before a studying crowd is another thing.
      When I had my stamina, I swam to the spot where I had left my towel and clothes. My muscles were powerless from the strain of pulling and from the fading adrenaline, as well as the mild emotion shock of how close it had been for her. My fingers would not obey to get my cut-offs on while standing. I had to settle for shaking the coarse sand from my cheeks after I got my "summer trousers" on, along with my T shirt and canvas deck shoes. I leaned up against one of the large cedar trees and let things settle inside me before I tried getting up.
      A young man approached me. "I heard what you did down there. Quite a show."
      "I just reacted. She needed air, so I took her what I could. I guess that we're lucky that I have a fair sized chest."
      "She's lucky that you were there and found her in time. She's asking for you."
      "How is she?"
      "Her ankle is sprained pretty badly, but other than that, she's okay."
      "That's good news. I guess that her boyfriend will take her to the doctor." I got wobbly to my feet, the man ready to catch me. I got stabilized and made my way over to the ledge where she was still sitting.
      "I'm glad that I got to you in time."
      "Not as glad as I am. I was just about down to the last molecules of oxygen when you gave me your breath. You saved my life."
      "Only too glad to be of help. How is your leg? I hope that my moving the rock didn't injure you."
      "No. You did it perfectly. That, I did to myself."
      "Is there someone to take you to a doctor? Your boyfriend?"
      "I came with my sister and her boyfriend. We hitch-hiked out here."
      "Long way out from town."
      "Yeah, but the roads are busy. It's not hard to get out here on your thumb."
      "You'd have trouble thumbing back in like that. Would you like your clothes so that you get to a doctor?"
      "Are you offering a ride?"
      "Yes, if you like."
      "Yes. I'd like. Unless you're attached real heavy."
      "No. I'm currently a free man."
      "How nice. A free man saves a free girl. Gloria, get my clothes, would you?"
      "I'll go get my car close to the top of the path. I'll bring a blanket for a stretcher, if we can get some help."
      "You are a very kind man."
      "You are a most appreciative victim."
      I hiked up the hundred foot tall steep bank and reparked my jeep. I brought down a blanket, and eight of us managed the narrow path with her. Footing was far more of a problem than supporting her weight. But we made it to the top without dropping her. She managed the passenger seat under her own one legged power.
      "Your sister?"
      "They are staying here. We were going to camp out for the night and come back tomorrow before it got too hot. I told them to stay. I feel that I can trust you to see me safely home. You don't risk your own neck to save someone to do rude things to them without their permission, even if we were pretty close there as you swam me to shore."
      "Okay. We'll get started then." I went around the jeep and climbed in. I started the engine and switched on the AC. Ten feet away from the water, it was summer heat again. The jeep was a good-sized oven that needed cooling in the worst way. I drove with the windows open to clear out the heat until it was outside temperature. Then the AC on full was more efficient. It was soon comfortable, and we were out on the up and down highway back into Austin.
      At first, the conversation was a bit awkward, unsure of each other as two Austinites can be of someone that they don't know. But we started talking movies, then music, then jobs, then politics, then lifestyles. I don't know why I never expected it, but we were both alike as two people could be, at least in likes and dislikes. As we entered the city, we were rapid firing ideas at each other to see who could be the first that found something that we disagreed upon. We got to Brackenridge Hospital in downtown Austin with nothing found.
      I stayed in the waiting room. I don't really know why. She could have easily have called someone to pick her up, since she lived only a dozen or so blocks away. Maybe intuition.
      Turns out that I had to cover her for the doctor's bill. I have some money. I'm not a millionaire, but I'm comfortable. It was no big deal for me to put out that kind of money. A few hundred didn't hurt that much. X-rays turned out negative, and it was just a sprain. They gave her pain pills and a wrap for the swelling and sent her on her way.
      She was hungry, so we went to restaurant on Sixth Street, with a window to the sidewalk and ferns obscuring most of the view. We had a couple of drinks, once she convinced me that she hadn't yet taken any of the medication. A good friend of mine walked in and spotted us.
      "Well, what are you two doing sitting together? I wasn't aware that you knew each other."
      "We didn't until a few hours ago out at Travis. He saved me from drowning. He drove me in and took me to the meathouse to get this. I had my leg caught in the rocks and he freed me. How long have you known him?"
      "A couple of years. He works down at the theater with us."
      "He does? You never told me that."
      I shrugged.
      "Well, well, well. This is going to make news."
      A chuckle found us again alone.
      "Small world. Funny that we never met before. I take it that you know everyone down there."
      "Some more than others, but I am on a first name basis with everyone."
      "Well. Not only were you my valiant hero, but you also come highly recommended. Do you have plans for the rest of the evening?"
      "Well, they are having two performances tonight. I don't have to be there, though. I'm not a performer. I just help out backstage."
      "Sounds interesting."
      "I enjoy it."
      "You just hang around backstage?"
      "No. I help with costumes and props and I photograph the performances each time they change shows. I give a bit of advice and criticism during rehearsals, joke around, sweep the floor and pick up beer bottles between shows. I work where I'm needed. I give the light man chances for his bi-yearly vacations. This and that. I used to perform, years back. That's why they put up with me, because I know what I'm doing."
      "Sounds like it. And to think that I didn't have even the slightest notion. My lucky day. Would you spend the night with me?"
      "Just like that?"
      "I wouldn't say just like that. You saved my life. You go out of your way to get me treated, and we are almost psychic mirrors. We've yet to find anything where we conflict. Besides, I feel that I owe you. I do owe you, my life. I'd be honored if you'd accept."
      I sat there a bit dumbfounded and lost for words.
      "Just shake your head no if you're refusing. Stomp two times for yes."
      I laughed.
      "What's that, a maybe?"
      We both broke into tears laughing, and we drew more than a few stares. We both ended up nodding at each other. We ate and then I drove her home. I didn't drive again until Monday morning. I was in love. Blindly.

      After a quick stop at the house, I barely made it to work at the photo lab on time. I was surrounded as I walked in the door. "Is it true? Was that you?"
      "What?" I asked, puzzled.
      "The rescue. Didn't you save a girl's life?"
      "How did you find out about that?"
      "It was in the paper. Here, look. You haven't seen this yet? Where have you been? The article said that you took her to the hospital. You didn't run off with her, did you?"
      "Uh. Hold it." I read the article. It was a column in the local main paper, and topping the column was a photo of the face of the guy that I talked to while sitting under the tree. I read, and had my stomach drop when I read that the city council was planning a ceremony for me. "Yeah. That was me."
      "I'll bet that you don't even know that the story was on all the news shows. Wire service exclusive for Howard Croft. You haven't been available for comment. Neither has she. Funny that you should both just disappear like that."
      "What I do on my time is my business."
      This earned many knowing "whoas" for my co-workers, and I left for my enlarger. The start of a blush was as good as a confession for them, and I was ribbed and grilled all day long. Message slips piled up for me at work, and I ignored them. After work, I went down to the theater.
      "Where were you Saturday?"
      "Don't start in on me, please. I came here for sanctuary."
      "Tell that to the news people that have been all over here for the last thirty six hours. Fortunately, we had some clue."
      "Please, Tici, have a heart. She was grateful and I was curious about whom I saved. We spent a little time together. I had no idea that any of this was going on until I got to work this morning." I showed her the messages that I had received at work. She dug around behind the bar and more than doubled the stack. I sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean you any trouble."
      "Just tell me that she was worth saving."
      "She was. Yes. I don't know quite how to take this. I want to run away. I want to hide."
      "Chicken to face the music?"
      "Yeah. I guess that I am. You know me. I like it back in the shadows, next to the lights, not in them."
      "Want me to help defuse the press?"
      "You want to play buffer for me?"
      "Yeah. I could do that, but the city is your problem. You know how we are with them."
      "Thanks, Tici. I owe you."
      "You do your share. Call it even. Just let us see your face. You're too good to lose to something like this."
      "I may be scarce in the short run. This has hit me pretty hard. When there is a close call, it does something to your attitude, even if it is someone else's close call. It kind of shuts down the cerebral part of your thinking. Things become more intense for a while. I've got to find some quiet to let things settle."
      "I understand. We'll be here when you need us. This place isn't going anywhere. Say hello to Karese for me."
      "You know her as well?"
      "From parties and friends. She seems nice. Maybe she's what you need. Maybe you should quit trying to go it alone."
      "Time will tell. I don't know at this point what will or could happen in the future. I'm blank. Maybe I'll make it this weekend."

      I drove around for hours in a daze. I went to a place out along the hills out west of town, where you can look over the river and see the city between two close towering hills. It was always the place I went to be alone and reflect on what the city was doing to me. I was born and raised in Houston. I learned to drive defensively and defend myself on the street. In Houston, you live in your car. The city is so spread out, over forty miles wide, proper. Add the suburbs and you come closer to seventy. Add Galveston, and it's ninety. So driving is a must. In between cities, I learned the life of the rural east Texan. Getting off to think was a part of life.
      I didn't know what I wanted to do. I felt my old loyalties being tested by a new focus, Karese. I really didn't want to be given a new focus. On the other hand, I really had little say in matters. The person that claims to have complete control of their emotions is a fool or a liar. I had a problem and the city told me as much, lights coming on in the dusk, wavering from the miles of heat distortion.
      I remembered lines from the pieces done on stage, trying to be philosophical, in a twisted sense, since I felt twisted. A feeling of peace fell upon me, and I found the strength for which I had been seeking. I got in the jeep and drove home.
      I answered the phone and it was the hospital. They were calling me about Karese. There was concern over the results of her blood test. They reported that they were unable to contact her, and called me through the address on my check. I told the nurse that I'd have her get in touch.
      I called her house and got no response. I started to go over to her house and ran into her at my front door, just as she was about to knock. We stood there and laughed a bit. Then I led her inside. She took a meticulous look at my place before she allowed conversation.
      "Have you seen the papers?"
      "Yes, this morning, when I got to work. Look at the stack of messages that I got today."
      "Oh, dear. Looks like I've become a burden to you."
      "You aren't the burden, Karese. These people are the burden. They have no true right to our time."
      The phone rang. I unplugged it. I locked the door and turned out the lights. I led her through the dark to the bedroom. We sat on the bed, legs crossed with each other's.
      "Look, this is a short lived story. Four days, max. I've worked with enough newspapers to know. The worst of it is today and tomorrow. I'm not worried about it. But I did get a call from the hospital, and they said that there was a problem with your blood test."
      "Blood test? I don't remember a blood test. They must have crossed files or something clerical."
      "That's a relief."
      We sat there in silence, holding hands. Her mind seemed elsewhere. This lasted for some time, then she turned to me with a passion that I had not known from her.

      I called in to work the next morning and told them that I was taking the day off to settle matters. I was given the okay. Karese didn't let me out of her sight the entire day. We never even got dressed. The car was in the garage and the morning paper remained on the lawn to discourage the bell ringers. The phone remained unplugged except when I called my parents to discuss the situation with them. They had talked to the press, and they were full of pride. I left out the part about seeing Karese since the incident at the lake. I figured that there was plenty of time for that later.
      The next morning, Karese wanted to go camping. She was up and about without any sign of a limp. She stood on tip toe with the foot that had been caught in the rocks to quell my objection that her leg didn't need the stress. I agreed. The day was cloudy, which would keep the temperature down a few degrees, so I agreed to go. I collected the papers and we headed west out of town on Highway 71, the same route that we had taken into town on Saturday. But instead of stopping at the lake, we went on further towards Llano, further northwest. She directed me to turn off on the road that led to Enchanted Rock.
      Enchanted Rock is a geological anomaly to hill country. It's a massive granite dome almost a mile across and some five hundred feet tall. In the midst of all that limestone, it tends to stand out. It's a relatively popular place that went from private ownership to become a state park.
      There was a lot of history to the place, and certain Indian tribes held sacrifices there and other tribes avoided it with long detours. There are numerous two inch veins of white and clear quartz showing along the surface of the dome, and in the full moon, the reflections gave the impression of ghost fires of those sacrificed. To the white man, it was just a hunk of granite that the owner refused to sell to mining companies.
      Granite is not uncommon in hill country, but for it to be so big and exposed to the surface with such a good grade of rose granite is rare. No company got its dream of owning the rock. It was left to the tourists. The size and shape makes it perfect for the casual hiker in good health, and it attracts its fair share of rock climbers for its cliffs and chutes. The water is supplied by Sandy Creek which runs shallowly along the base of the rock.
      We parked the jeep and lazed at the camp for the hot part of the day in the shade of the cedars. Being a week day, occupancy was low, but there were the typical frisbee throwers and a few students on summer vacation. But our spot was away from the main crowd, and we had our privacy for talking.
      It wasn't until late in the evening that she pulled the surprise on me. She told me that she was about to leave Austin. She wouldn't say where she was headed. She told me that she had little say in the matter. The announcement came as a shock to me and, I tried to talk her out of it. She cried, holding me fiercely. It was obvious that she wanted to stay with me, but couldn't. But she couldn't explain why, or even hint. She got up, face wet, and we went up on top of the rock with a sleeping pad before the sunlight faded completely through the cloud bank.
      Atop, we made love repeatedly, using the pad to cushion the wild motions that we made on the coarse granite. Finally exhausted, we lay there in each others arms. We were quiet for some time. Karese finally broke the silence.
      "I'm pregnant."
      "What? How could you know so soon?"
      "I know, trust me. You made me pregnant. Don't worry about it. I want your baby. You won't have me around to bother you about it."
      "But I want you around so that I can share it with you."
      "You are very sweet, but I still can't stay. I must go. I lied to you about one thing. They did do a blood test at the hospital. I'm not human. That's why the results were so unusual."
      "Karese, please."
      "No. I speak the truth, and only the truth. Now that I'm to have your child, I think that it's only fair that you know. This is not my original shape. It was copied for me from one of your beauty queens, and given to me before coming to Earth. We don't look that much different from you humans, and we are genetically close enough to interbreed healthy offspring without complications. Our child will be healthy. I know that it sounds like I'm raving, but I'm not. You'll see in a moment. I just want you to know that I love you dearly and I'd give anything to stay, but I've been ordered to come here for pick up. I have no choice but to go."
      She covered my mouth with her hand. "Time is short, so just listen. I came here on a mission, and having completed it, I was granted some vacation time. I was already on borrowed time when we met and you saved my life. The blood test and the publicity is what cut my vacation short. I really didn't need to go to the hospital, and I figured that it would be no problem. I didn't count on them taking a blood test for a sprained ankle. But I went when you offered to take me. I fell in love with you on the spot.
      "You have been rewarded for saving my life. Look in the glove compartment of the jeep. There is a cashier's check in your name in it. I don't want you to suffer financially, and it is enough to get you out ahead of the press and keep you ahead of them. You'll never have to work again. It's enough to high roll off of the interest. Hush. No objections about the money. I'm not buying you, I'm just seeing that the one I love has the resources to get out of what is to come from the blood tests. I'd rather stay and spend the rest of our lives together, or bring you along with me. But neither can be allowed."
      A dim blue light came down upon us from above. I looked up and saw a circular hole in the cloud cover open wider, with the source of the light in the center. Stars began to appear at the edge of the hole. "I have to go now." Her tears wet my chest, and she stood, pushing me down as she rose. "Stay. This must be, regardless of how much it hurts the two of us."
      She stepped back, her eyes always on me. The light upon us narrowed until it covered only her nude standing form.
      "I love you with all my heart."
      The light intensified and she faded. The light snapped off. I looked from where she had been standing up to the sky. I could make out little with my eyes blinded to the dark from the intense light in which she had stood, but I managed to barely discern a round disc that blotted out the stars. It started moving off to the east, revealing stars in its trail and blotting out those it moved to occult. It reached the edge of the hole in the clouds and was gone, and I saw only the blinding vision of her nude body burned into my eyes, fading into colors.
      I was stunned and lay there until I heard voices approaching. I hurried and dressed, then found my way back down to the camp with the pad and her clothes that she left behind. I found the check in the glove compartment. I was now a millionaire, several times over. I was among the group that left the park that evening. I didn't want to be there in the morning when the press arrived to investigate the incident.
      The next morning, I called the hospital and told them that Karese had seen a doctor and while unusual, everything was normal for her. I told them that she had left town without forwarding address. I called into work and told them to find another worker, since I would no longer be coming in for work. I told them to keep my personal effects. I called a mover and had my household moved to a public storage facility in Bryan, a hundred miles east. I dropped the house key off at the movers, settled my rent with my landlord, and gave notice that I'd be moved out in three days, and that the moving company had the spare house key. I let him keep the security deposit, rather than leave a link to my whereabouts.
      I spent the next day paying the utility bills and cleaning out the fridge. I gave all the food to a friend that was poor and eternally hungry. That evening, with my immediate personal belongings, ample cash from my closed account, and the things that Karese left behind, I left Austin. I checked into a motel not far from town. I had a hard time driving farther with tears in my eyes.