Bisson_rucker_billys.. - Rudy Rucker

“You must be hooked,” said the store owner. “No smoking in the store.”
The store owner was smoking, though. He blew smoke in Billy’s face and smiled.
He was as mean as Vernon.
Pretty soon the FBI arrived. They arrived in a helicopter. They were about to
handcuff Billy when a flying saucer flew over the town.
It was flying low. Everybody looked up. The FBI and the store owner too. That was
their mistake.
The saucer had a Forgetting Ray. It made the FBI forget about taking Billy to jail.
Billy ran home. He was breathing a sigh of relief all the way.
“Where’s my magazine?” asked Vernon.
“I forgot it,” said Billy.
“Then no cigarette for you.”
§§
“I don’t care,” said Billy. “I don’t want one anymore. That flying saucer made me
forget I was hooked. It had a Forgetting Ray.”
“I saw the flying saucer too,” said Vernon. “How come I didn’t forget I’m in a
wheelchair?”
§§
“That’s because you don’t have any feet,” said Billy. “I want my Dale Earnhardt
helmet back.”
Vernon gave Billy his helmet back. Vernon had forgotten it was his. He had even
forgotten he was mean.
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