Carmen's Dream

Mount Arlington Public Library [Raccoons from Mars]

Carmen's Dream

Cast adrift, the only survivor of the typhoon.
Forced to eat his pet canary [Nostradamus] to stay alive.
Carmen replayed the events of the day over in his mind. He was woozy with thirst and slipping into.....
Flashback!
In the crystal moonlight, the large tub of peanuts cast a sharp shadow down the grass haired dune and across the wide beach. Tracks had been found on this beach. Intelligence said they might be Raccoon.
"It's no good, Major. If they're out there, they're not going for the bait."
Carmen rapped his driver on his helmet with his riding crop and muttered, "Balderdash! I never did buy into this peanut thing! Crank it up, corporal! Get these tanks moving!"
Five tanks as one bit their treads into the sand, their headlamps lighting up the shoreline.
And suddenly there it was! A Raccoon Transport. Its turrent swiveling.
And suddenly the night was on fire.
Carmen awoke much later, sprawled on the sand. The tank crews shuffled around him in a daze. The tanks were gone. So were the peanuts.

Backflash!
5 short years ago. The Pillowcase Heads.
["Nooooooo!" moans Carmen, adrift in his delirium.]
He and Billy Trooper, (well - he wasn't a Trooper then), were about to save the world for the first time as a team. The warehouse they found themselves in was supposed to be the headquarters of a vicious gang of bad persons. The gang was known as 'The Pillowcase Heads'. No one was safe while the gang busily plotted their evil, nasty ways.
"P'sst! Carmen!" whispered Billy. "I've got an itchy feeling in my back."
"O.K." Carmen replied. "Either your cap is too tight or there's something nasty behind you."
"You look first." said Billy.

.Last Hope Sun

..Table of Contents