Just great. He had only four or five blocks left to walk before
reaching his work place. Maybe I should wait it out under that
awning ahead.
Fred arrived under the awning at the same time as an elderly
woman and two businessmen. They had the same plan in
mind. Fred closed his umbrella, and shook it to remove the
moisture. Fred then nodded to the others with whom he
shared the awning. No one said hello but the woman smiled
back. One of the men wore an expensive looking fedora. He
nodded to Fred in return. The second man glared back at
Fred.
Grandma looked as though she wanted to make small talk.
But before she could speak, the rain intensified. Fred heard
the racket; he assumed it was hail. Out of the corner of his
eye, he saw the round, white balls bouncing off the sidewalk
and adjoining street. And bounce, they did. In fact, the
hailstones bounced repeatedly.
Wait! What? After a few seconds, Fred and the three
strangers came to a startling realization: the falling stones
were, in fact, not hail—they were eyeballs! Fred could
discern the dark pupil in one nearby eye. The surrounding
iris was light gray in color. The eyeball looked human. He
spotted another eye lying next to his right foot. It was
smaller, and sported a vertical pupil. The iris was bright
green. A cat’s eyeball, perhaps? Others rolled into view. One
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