The Last Days of L.A.

by George H. Smith

"Is there a floor beneath your feet?"

"Yes, there is a floor beneath our feet."

"Are you sure? Feel the floor with your feet."

There is a loud shuffling as they do as they are told.

"Are you sure the floor is there?"

"Yes, we're sure the floor is there."

"Now feel your feet with the floor."

There is more shuffling and during this you steal quietly out. This one reminds you of the D.T.'s and you want nothing at all to do with that.

You get tossed out of the next place you try because the preacher says you're drunk. You're not, but you wish you were, so you head toward The Bar. You stop when you see the sign, "FLYING SAUCER CONVENTION." It's over the door of a large building and underneath in smaller letters it says, "Listen to the words of the Space People. Hear the advice they bring us in these troubled times."

Surely, you tell yourself, the Space People will have a solution, surely they can bring peace. You enter and see a young, ordinary-looking fellow addressing a crowd of about three hundred. You take a seat next to a bald man who is writing down what the young man is saying even though it doesn't seem to make much sense.