They passed a house canted off its foundations; they saw a man calmly building a rubbish fire against one corner of it and almost went on, so natural did it seem. His eyes were bright when he looked up, and he seemed only a little offended when they kicked his fire apart.
"It's the insurance," he explained. "Twelve thousand dollars, fire with extended coverage. You know what it'll cost me to get this straightened up? Rent a crane, a big gang of men with hydraulic jacks, a week's work easing the house back on the footings, and then everything will be sprung, the whole house'll have to be replastered. Five thousand dollars, easy, and I haven't got it. So I figured, we're covered for fire, make a clean start, the kids are grown now and we don't need a place this size—" Of the adjoining houses he had not thought at all.
They walked him down to the school; he chattered volubly all the way, quite unhinged. Polly efficiently vanished in search of a doctor with a needleful of morphine, and eventually she led one of the army medics toward them.
The arsonist snapped to and said crisply, "Sir, these civilians tried to prevent me from carrying out my mission. If you ask me, they're Krauts."
The medic led him away, protesting.
Artie Chesbro said worriedly, "Sharon, are you sure Akslund's coming here? None of these dopes seem to know anything."
Sharon Froman said, "Positive. This is the only road in from the north. He'll have to stop at the check point even if he is a congressman." She paused, added, "The captain who told me was the detachment communications officer. He got it right off the radio himself." She gave Chesbro a smile of good fellowship. It never hurt to remind a man how helpful you were being.
Chesbro sighed, "I'm getting tired of waiting here, all the same. These tinhorn heroes are getting under my skin. The next idiot that wants to know if I'll help out with the salvage squads or let them take this car for emergency duty gets a tire-iron across the face."
Sharon said sympathetically, "You'd think they'd know enough to leave you alone, wouldn't you?" There was a siren scream from down the road, and they both sat up straight to look. But it was only an ambulance; it slowed briefly at the roadblock, the troopers waved it by and it sped away.