Ellen looked down at where the street ought to be, at where the restaurant front ought to be, and then back the way we’d come as though wondering if the Penny Arcade tent was still there.
“It isn’t,” I said.
Ma asked, “It isnt what?”
“Isn’t there,” I explained.
Ma glowered at me. “What isn’t where?”
“The tent,” I said, a bit peeved. “The movie company. The whole shebang. And especially Sam Heideman. It was when I remembered about Sam Heideman—five years ago in Luna City we heard he was dead—so he wasn’t there. None of it was there. And the minute I realized that, they pulled it all out from under us.”
“’They?’ What do you mean, ‘ they, ’ Pop Wherry? Who is ‘they’?”
“You mean who are ‘they’?” I said, but the look Ma gave me made me wince.
“Let’s not talk here,” I went on. “Let’s get back to the ship as quick as we can, first. You can lead us there, Johnny, without the street?”
He nodded, forgetting to salute or ”