"I gave them to Howie," he said, thoughtfully screwing the point of the ball into the center of a dandelion. "He said he was going to get some new ones though. Let's go see." He got up and tossed the ball toward the porch. It hit the railing and bounced back into the bushes. That's where he usually kept it. "Paul," called his mother as we started out. "Yeah?" "Don't go far. I've got some things I want you to do." "What?" he said patiently. "Hauling trash out of the basement. Helping me move some of the potted plants around in front." "Sure," he said. "I'll be back." We went past another church on the way to Howie's. The sign was the same there. THIS IS THE DAY THE WORLD ENDS! They never said more than that. They wanted it to hang in our minds, something we couldn't quite touch, but we knew was there. Paul jerked his head at the sign. "What do you think of it?" "I don't know." I broke off a twig as we passed a tree. "What about you?" "We got it coming." He looked at the sky. "Yeah, but will we get it?" He didn't answer that. "I wonder if it will be bright?" "It is now." "It might cloud over." "It won't matter. It'll split the sky." That was one thing sure. Clouds or anything weren't going to stand in the way. We went on and found Howie. Howie is a Negro, smaller than we are and twice as fast. He can throw a football farther and straighter than anyone else on the team. We pal around quite a bit, especially in the football season. He came out of the house like he was walking on whipped cream. I didn't let that fool me. More than once I've tried to tackle him during a practice game. Howie was carrying a model of a rocket ship, CO_{2} powered. It didn't work. We said hi all around and then he suggested a game of keep-away. We'd left the football at Paul's and we couldn't so we walked over to the park. * * * * * We sat down and began talking about it. "I'm wondering if it will really come," said Paul. We all squinted up. "Where'll the President watch it from?" I said. "He should have a good view from the White House." "No better than us right here," said Howie. "What about Australia? Will they see it there?" I said. "They'll see it all over." "Africa, too? And what about the Eskimos?" "It doesn't matter whether they actually see it or not. It will come to everyone at the same time." I didn't see how it could, but I didn't feel like an argument. That's what they were saying on TV and you can't talk back to that. "Everybody," said Howie. "Not just in this town, but all over. Wherever there are people. Even where they're not." "You read that," said Paul. "Sure," said Howie. "You lent me the comic books. It's even in them."