From the Corner of His Eye

sudden violent shift in the earth's axis that would wipe out human civilization, they risked crossing the boundaries of Bright Beach and traveled north into the great unknown of territories strange and perilous.
        As they rolled along the coast, Agnes began to read to Barty from Podkayne of Mars: " 'All my life I've wanted to go to Earth. Not to live, of course-just to see it. As everybody knows, Terra is a wonderful place to visit but not to live. Not truly suited to human habitation."'
        In the front seat, Edom and Jacob murmured agreement with the narrator's sentiments. Monday night, Edom and Jacob booked adjoining units in a motel near the hospital. They called Barty's room to give Agnes the phone number and to report that they had inspected eighteen establishments before finding one that seemed comparatively safe.
        In regard for Barty's tender age, Dr. Franklin Chan had arranged for Agnes to spend the night in her son's room, in the second bed, which currently wasn't needed for a patient.
        For the first time in many months, Barty didn't want to sleep in the dark. They left the door of the room open, admitting some of the fluorescent glow from the hallway.
        The night seemed to be longer than a Martian month. Agnes dozed, fitfully, waking more than once, sweaty and shaking, from a dream in which her son was taken from her in pieces: first his eyes, then his hands, then his ears, his legs…
        The hospital was eerily quiet, except for the occasional squeak of rubber-soled shoes on the vinyl floor of the corridor.
        At first light, a nurse arrived to perform preliminary surgical prep on Barty. She pulled the boy's hair back and captured it under a tight fitting cap. With cream and a safety razor, she shaved off his eyebrows.
        When the nurse was gone, alone with his mother as they waited for the orderly to bring a gurney, Barty said, "Come close."
        She was already standing beside his bed. She leaned down to him.
        "Closer," he said.
        She lowered her face to his.
        He raised his head and rubbed noses with her. "Eskimo."
        "Eskimo," she repeated.
        Barty whispered: "The North Pole Society of Not Evil Adventurers is now in session."
        "All members present," she agreed.
        "I have a secret."
        "No member of the society ever violates a secret confidence," Agnes assured him.
        "I'm scared."
        Throughout Agnes's thirty-three years, strength had often been demanded of her, but never such strength as was required now to rein in her emotions and to be a rock for Barty. "Don't be scared, honey. I'm here." She took one of his small hands in both of hers. "I'll be waiting. You'll never be without me."
        "Aren't you afraid?"
        If he had been any other three-year-old, she would have told a compassionate lie. He was her miracle child, however, her prodigy, and he would know a lie for what it was.
        "Yes," she admitted, her face still close to his, "I'm afraid. But Dr. Chan is a fine surgeon, and this is a very fine hospital."
        "How long will it take?"
        "Not long."
        "Will I feel anything?"
        "You'll be asleep, sweetie."
        "Is God watching?"
        "Yes. Always."
        "It seems like He isn't watching."
        "He's here as sure as I am, Barty. He's very busy, with a whole universe to run, so many people to look after, not just here but on other planets, like you've been reading about."
        "I didn't think of other planets."
        "Well, with so much on His shoulders, He can't always watch us directly, you know, with His fullest attention every minute, but He's always at least watching from the corner of His eye. You'll be all right. I know you will."
        The gurney, one wheel rattling. The young orderly behind it, dressed all in white. And the nurse again.
        "Eskimo," whispered Barty.
        "This meeting of the North Pole Society of Not Evil Adventurers is officially closed."
        She held his face in both hands and kissed each of his beautiful jewel eyes. "You ready?"
        A fragile smile. "No."
        "Neither am I," she admitted.
        "So let's go."
        The orderly lifted Barty onto the gurney.
        The nurse draped a sheet over him and slipped a thin pillow under his head.
        Having survived the night, Edom and Jacob were waiting in the hall. Each kissed his nephew, but neither