"I don't know, Dhuva. I've been wondering about the people in Casperton. Like Doc Welch. I used to see him in the street with his little black bag. I always thought it was full of pills and scalpels; but maybe it really had zebra's tails and toad's eyes in it. Maybe he's really a magician on his way to cast spells against demons. Maybe the people I used to see hurrying to catch the bus every morning weren't really going to the office. Maybe they go down into caves and chip away at the foundations of things. Maybe they go up on rooftops and put on rainbow-colored robes and fly away. I used to pass by a bank in Casperton: a big grey stone building with little curtains over the bottom half of the windows. I never go in there. I don't have anything to do in a bank. I've always thought it was full of bankers, banking ... Now I don't know. It could be anything ..." "That's why I'm afraid," Dhuva said. "It could be anything." "Things aren't really any different than they were," said Brett, "... except that now we know." He turned the big car out across the field toward Casperton. "I don't know what we'll find when we get back. Aunt Haicey, Pretty-Lee ... But there's only one way to find out." The moon rose as the car bumped westward, raising a trail of dust against the luminous sky of evening. THE END [Illustration] "The body shifted, rotating stiffly, then tilted upright. "The sun struck through the amber shape that flowed down to form itself into the crested wave." see IT COULD BE ANYTHING Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ January 1963. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note. End of Project Gutenberg's It Could Be Anything, by John Keith Laumer