From a Distant Star by Karen McQuestion Page B

again.”
    “Help? What do I look like, the help desk?” She slammed the palm of her hand on the table. “No one in this nothing town has the time of day for me until they have a problem. Then they’re like, ‘Mrs. Kokesh, you’re my only hope. You have to help me.’” Sheput her hands together like she was praying. “That’s how it starts out. Then I help them and when things don’t go exactly the way they want, it’s all my fault. Well, I’m telling you, missy, I’m tired of taking the blame. I give and I give and I give, and what do I get? Nothing!” She spat out the word. “You people come traipsing up my porch begging and pleading, and I do the best I can but it’s never enough. I’m tired of it. I get no credit and no gratitude.”
    “I give you complete credit,” I said. “And I am grateful.”
    “But?” she cried out, and turned to Eric. “There’s always a but, believe me.”
    Eric said, “Could you let Emma finish? I want to hear what she has to say.”
    “I know what she has to say,” Mrs. Kokesh said, leaning back with folded arms. “I’ve seen it all before. I’ve heard it all before.”
    I reached into my bag, pulled out the object Mack had found in the field, and set it on the table. “Have you ever seen something like this before?”

CHAPTER TWELVE
    Mrs. Kokesh leaned forward, her eyes narrowing in confusion. “What the hell is that?”
    I’d had the object for two weeks, first stashing it in the old barn, and then in the closet in my bedroom. I’d looked at it countless times, studying it from every angle, and I still didn’t have an answer for her. I shook my head.
    “Some kind of container? I don’t really know. I was hoping you could tell me.”
    The object was as big around as a large pie plate and maybe four inches tall. Nothing remarkable about the size and shape. It was the color and material that made me gaze in wonder every time I looked at it. Shimmery and beautiful, like carnival glass or a hologram, but not really like either of those things either. Familiar and yet unlike anything I’d ever seen before. It was cool to the touch all the time, regardless of the outside temperature. It reminded me of when scientists discover a new species of animal, like that crystal frog they found in Peru with skin so translucent you could see its heart beating through its chest. Impossible, yet there it was.
    Mrs. Kokesh reached for it, then stopped. “May I?”
    “Of course.” I pushed it across the table so she could examine it. “The same night I used your potion to cure Lucas, this thing crash-landed at their farm, back behind the house. At least, I thinkthat’s what happened.” I sighed. “Lucas’s mom and I heard a big noise, like something hitting the ground, and then it sounded like it skidded. I found it in the field, two days later. Some government agents came to their house, saying they were looking for some wreckage from an aircraft collision. Mrs. Walker sent me out to bring the dog in before she let them search the property and Mack led me right to this.”
    “Fascinating.” Mrs. Kokesh turned it, looking at it from every side, and then lifted it over her head to see the bottom. “The agents—did you tell them you found this?”
    “No, I hid it in the barn before they came out.”
    “Good girl!” she said approvingly.
    “The weird thing is that the agents were at the press conference Lucas’s doctor held to talk about his recovery. Why would they be there if they were just investigating an aircraft collision?” I asked.
    Mrs. Kokesh said, “I don’t know.”
    “So you’ve had this the whole time?” Eric said. “How come you didn’t tell us about it? It was on our property.”
    “You can have it if you want,” I said. “I didn’t steal it. I was just keeping it safe until I figured things out.”
    “But you didn’t even mention it. And you took it home with you,” Eric said, a whine in his voice. Sometimes he seemed so mature;