Robbie had stopped sobbing now, but the tears were still coming. She tried to get the story of what had happened to him, but what she did hear, she didn't believe.
After he finished she said, "Now, Robbie, I can't believe that you were lifted into the air by a space-ship, tied to a table and cut in the arm by some monster!"
"But Mommy, that's what happened. Honest! And when I was laying on the table I heard them talking. But I couldn't understand what they were saying!"
A grimness filled her as he spoke. And then a terrible horror spread through her. She remembered the Chicago park, when the bombs fell—how they alone seemed to be spared death.... Was it possible?...
She grabbed Robbie into her arms and dashed up the street away from the restaurant. She saw a car standing by the curb and ran to it. There were keys in the ignition. She put Robbie on the front seat and got in. As the motor coughed into life she meshed gears and sped out of the town. One thing buzzed in her mind. Peoria—that's where Johnny is—oh, Johnny—help us!
"The conveyance in which you now see them is called an automobile. It is propelled by a liquid fuel, gasoline, in an internal combustion engine. We purposely had the automobile left there for them."
She drove through the industrial section of Peoria. She knew she was near the factory where Johnny worked. She started looking for the building, thinking how unfair it was for Johnny to have taken a job so far from Chicago. But her heart lifted as she thought about her husband. Johnny—Johnny, we're here!
There! To her left. There it was! She stopped the car, took Robbie's hand and ran toward the building.
"Mommy, is this where daddy is? Is he here?" Robbie's voice trembled.
She nodded her head as they ran. "Yes, Robbie—daddy's here!"