In the two weeks before, there are signs and wonders.
A cat gives birth to a two-headed kitten. A river runs backwards; children playing in the ocean taste the water and find it sweet. For half an hour in the night, the moon stands still in the sky.
On Thursday evening, there's a streak of light -- like a shooting star, and then like a road flare, burning potassium-bright in the center of an acre of blood-red snow.
“Well — uh — I can come over there.”
He sets down his tea very carefully and begins the process of disentangling himself from the cloth wrapping his body.
They step quickly towards him and stick an arm out, barring him from getting up under any circumstances.
"None of that - you were so excited about life a minute ago, do you really want to bleed out now? And spaceman, do I need to drag you down by your beleaguered boyfriend or are you going to work out the Einstein stuff yourself? I'm not letting him up in his condition, I've seen broken ribs before but his damn sternum's half-floated!"
They walk over to the purported non-alien and give him a tug like before.
As before, this succeeds at causing him to stumble in the right direction.
When he's in arm's reach of the beleaguered boyfriend, he immediately has a hand on his wrist.
They firmly grasp him around the shoulders and guide him down beside their very broken patient.
"Do you have allergies to any medication? I'd like to test your lung capacity, but you need some painkillers first."
"You sure about that there, bud? You're taking some very shallow breaths."
"That's deep enough, hold." They prod the area a little, feeling for breaks.
They give him an "are-you-serious" look. "Ribs broken. They'll take their own time."
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