Attack of the Spider Bots by Robert West

streamlined locomotive!”
    Suddenly a woman stepped onto the porch and winced in the bright sunlight. She wasn’t smiling. Actually, she had a long, lean faced that looked like it hadn’t smiled for an eon or two. The good news for her was that her face had no laugh lines. The bad news was that she had loads of frown lines.
    â€œHello, children,” she said in a high-pitched, whining voice. “I am Mrs. Drummond, and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that I could turn you over to the police for trespassing.” She tilted her face down to look through the upper part of her bifocals.
    â€œAs you can see we have gone to a great deal of trouble to maintain our privacy.” Tall and wiry, she wore a long, dark dress with almost no decorations, except for puffed up shoulders. Her hair was piled up in a ring on top of her head, which was held up by a long, narrow neck, reminding Beamer of those aliens you’d see in movies who had big heads tilting and turning on tiny necks.
    â€œHowever, I am going to overlook your actions this time. But I warn you against repeating this intrusion. Mr. Parker is very ill. He was once a very brilliant man, as you can see from these sentry creatures he constructed long ago. Incidentally, I must ask that you tell no one of the existence of these creatures. Mr. Parker’s health is very fragile, and any undue excitement can pose a danger to him,” she added with a cold smile.
    Beamer felt his face flush at the same time a chill spread down toward his feet. It hadn’t occurred to him that they might endanger the man’s health by dropping by.
    She glanced up at the sentries and ordered, “See that these children leave the premises and then return to your posts.” Without another glance at the kids, she turned around and reentered the house.
    Something about the way she whirled around, her head turning slower than her body like a snake pivoting about, with her arms lifted high in a gesture of dismissal, gave Beamer the brief image of a dragon with its wings spread, guarding a cave full of treasure.

    About half an hour later Beamer closed his front door and turned to find a sword pointed at his chest.
    â€œDo you yield?” a guy wearing a mask and armor asked in a gruff voice.
    â€œYes, Dad, I yield,” Beamer said with a sigh, pushing the plastic sword away with his finger. Why couldn’t he have a normal dad — you know, just some everyday SWAT team member or a spy for the CIA? Nope, his dad was the king of make-believe — a theater director at the local college. Naturally, he had to try out the props for each new theater production at home. Beamer had a feeling that his dad would play every part himself if he could get away with it. But then, on the positive side, his half-kid father could often make sense of what made no sense to Beamer.
    While his father continued his duel with an invisible opponent, Beamer told him about his experience with Mr. Parker and Mrs. Drummond.
    â€œSounds like there is nothing you can do,” his father said as he put down the sword and took off his mask.
    â€œSomething doesn’t sound right, though,” Beamer said with a stiff jaw.
    â€œYes, but as unpleasant as the lady seems to be, she knows more about Mr. Parker’s health than you do. Now leave them alone. It is far too dangerous to pursue Mr. Parker’s situation any further. Oh,” he said, changing the subject at the same time he was changing into a helmet with bull horns sticking out on each side. “Your mother and I contacted Social Services about the boy in the trolley station. They’ve apparently known about him for some time but have never been able to find him.” He picked up a rubber battle axe and swung it around. “Can you imagine that?” he asked as Beamer ducked. “They said that they would try again — maybe bring in the police.”

9
    Never-Never Land
    â€œWhat