Sharon Froman was very tired. Even while she moved through the pickup ritual for perhaps the twentieth time a crazy, spinning maggot grew in her head that she really ought to throw herself on the ground and scream; it was the only sensible thing to do. With a great deal of effort she resisted and forced out the foolish idea, knowing it would come back. Mrs. Goudeket twisted the wheel of the car hard, to avoid a fallen telephone pole. "Such a thing, such a thing," she muttered as she avoided the muddy shoulder. "Only a telephone pole, Mrs. G.," said Dick McCue. "No, I meant that no-good, that Sharon, that there should be a girl like that." She shook her head. "And always will be," said Groff, with Polly's head pleasantly pressing his shoulder, her nearness making him feel confident and quiet. "But that's not what's important. The Sharons and the--the--"--he didn't utter Chesbro's name because Polly might not be asleep--"the others, they're the ones the pessimists and cynics are always thinking about, pointing at, making a thing of. But I'm going to remember something else out of all this. Starkman. That doctor almost ready to drop on his feet. The kids who did the diving. All the dozens and dozens who were _there_ when they were needed. Fast. With both hands and with everything they had." "It's a fact," said Dick McCue. "It's as if when things are okay, everyone just sort of buys and sells and takes care of his own and locks the front door. But when there's a real jam they, I don't know, they get bigger. Most of them, anyway." "Yep," said Groff quietly. "That's why, in spite of the unholy mess, this town isn't licked. That's why, even though I could forget Hebertown and locate somewhere else, I don't think I'm going to. Maybe I ought to have my head examined, but I'm sort of--proud of this place." "You going to be welcome," said Mrs. Goudeket, smiling at the clearing road ahead. "You going to be very welcome." * * * * * _A Savage Flood Changed Their World_ It was a pleasant little town in the Northeast. It had never been hurricane country. When they heard that Diane was coming, they couldn't really believe it would harm them. And the hurricane itself didn't touch them. But the rains caused by the hurricane ravaged their little town as viciously as the worst artillery attack could have done. This is a powerful and tremendously graphic novel of people trapped in that town: and how they learned what a flood really means. And how they found out what they themselves were like. THIS IS AN ORIGINAL NOVEL--NOT A REPRINT. PRINTED IN U.S.A.