@page { margin-bottom: 5.000000pt; margin-top: 5.000000pt; } Chapter 18. Festus Is an Idiot Who Calls Too Early in the MorningFor the second time that night, the phone rang. But this time Liam sat up immediately, his mind alert and duck free. He grabbed the receiver. “What?” he barked.“Dude!” said Festus, his feelings hurt.Liam looked out the window. It wasn’t fully dark out anymore. The sky had that pale and pinkish hue it gets as the sun is just coming up. Regardless, it was clearly way too early for Festus to be acting so peniscuous. Or to be calling at all, for that matter. Liam glanced at the shattered remains of his clock on the floor. “What time is it, Festus?”“It is 6:25 in the morning, and—” Thunder rumbled in the distance.“Why,” said Liam, pausing to calm himself, “are you calling me at 6:25 in the morning?”“Well, I need help,” said Festus. The line stayed silent for a moment. Festus could hear Liam breathing deep, slow breaths. “What kind of help could you possibly need that requires you to call me in the middle of the night?” He asked the question casually, as if he were just throwing it out there. More thunder rumbled, and it occurred to Liam that he hadn’t actually seen any clouds in the sky when he’d peeked out the window. He pushed back the shades for another look, and there it was – a big, mashed-potato-looking stack of clouds, rolling in from the west. “Well, it’s not the middle of the night.” Both immediately regarded this statement as something of a misstep, but Festus chose to plow on anyway. “I’m in jail,”
