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response.
    Startled, Alex looked suspiciously at the last bites on his plate. With Kate, you had to be very cautious. It was dangerous having an ancestor like her.
    "Tomorrow you will have to be vaccinated against half a dozen tropical diseases. Let me see that hand; you can't travel with an infection."
    She examined it roughly, decided that her son John had done a good job, poured half a bottle of disinfectant over the wound—just in case—and announced that tomorrow she herself would remove the stitches. It was easy, she said, anyone could do it. Alex shuddered. His grandmother was nearsighted and used scratched glasses she'd bought secondhand in a market in Guatemala. While she put on a new bandage, Kate explained that the
International Geographic
had financed an expedition to the heart of the Amazon jungle, on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, to look for a gigantic, possibly humanoid, creature that had been seen a number of times in that area. Enormous tracks had been found, and people who had sighted it said that this animal—or primitive human being—was taller than a bear, had very long arms, and was covered with black hair—like the Yeti of the Himalayas, except that this one lived in the middle of the jungle.
    "Maybe it's a monkey—" Alex suggested.
    "Did it occur to you that someone might have thought of that possibility?" his grandmother said, cutting him off.
    "But they don't have proof that it actually exists," Alex ventured.
    "We don't have a birth certificate for the Beast, Alexander. Oh. An important detail. They say it leaves an odor so strong that animals and people in the vicinity faint or are paralyzed."
    "If people faint, then no one's seen it."
    "Exactly, but by its tracks they know it walks on two feet. And doesn't wear shoes, in case that's your next question."
    "No, Kate. My next question is whether it wears a hat!" her grandson exploded.
    "I don't think so."
    "Is it dangerous?"
    "No, Alexander. It's extremely mellow. It doesn't steal, doesn't kidnap children, and never destroys private property. It just kills. And kills cleanly, without any noise. It breaks the bones of its victims, and then guts them with true elegance, like a professional," his grandmother joked.
    "How many people has it killed?" Alex inquired, feeling more and more uneasy.
    "Not many, when you take into account how over-populated the world is."
    "How
many
, Kate!"
    "Several gold prospectors, a couple of soldiers, a salesman here and there. The exact number isn't known."
    "Has it killed any Indians? How many?" Alex persisted.
    "They don't know, really. The Indians don't count past two. Besides, to them death is relative. If they thought someone had stolen their soul, or walked over their tracks, or taken control of their dreams, for example, that would be worse than being dead. Someone who is dead, however, can go on living in spirit."
    "That's complicated," said Alexander, who did not believe in spirits.
    "Whoever told you life is simple?"
    Kate explained that the expedition was being led by a famous anthropologist, Professor Ludovic Leblanc, who had spent years investigating the trail of the so-called Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, on the border between China and Tibet, without finding him. He had also worked among a tribe of Indians in the Amazon, and made the claim that they were the most savage on the planet; when least expected, they ate their prisoners. This information was not soothing, Kate admitted. Their guide would be a Brazilian by the name of César Santos, who had spent his life in that region and had good relations with the Indians. He owned an airplane that was pretty beat up but still operating, and he planned to use it to fly them into Indian territory.
    "In school we studied the Amazon in an ecology class," commented Alex, whose eyes were getting very heavy.
    "Well! No doubt that one class will suffice!" Kate said sarcastically. And added, "I suppose you're tired. You can sleep on the sofa and