Stay in the truck...

Bert considered just having Annie stay at the house with Denver, but... well, old Denny was kind of a weird dude. Maybe she'd be better off just staying in the truck.

He was just gonna run up to the pasture and make sure everything was safe. He'd figure out if he had to call in the fire department. Just a quick look around and then he could drop Annie and come back if need be.

"Honey," Bert said. "I'm just gonna run us up there and make sure everything is ok and then I'll take you over to school. When we get there, you just stay here in the truck while I get out and look around."

"Whatever you say, Dad... God this is so boring!" Annie was obviously annoyed that she was going to miss a class.

Bert started driving up the hill and said, "Don't worry, I'll right you a note."

"That's not the point. After four years of high school and there goes my perfect attendance record."

Bert shoots her a playful look. "You know, Annie. I think you might be a bit of a nerd."

"You suck, Dad." she says, giggling a little.

"No, I'm serious. You're too pretty to be such a nerd." He looks over again to see her reaction while teases her.

She suddenly gets a scared look on her face and points out the windshield, "Oh shit! Dad!"

Bert looks ahead as the truck comes over a rise. He hits the brakes as he sees a huge smoldering crater about 10 yards ahead. The crater seems to be hundreds of feet all around. Whatever landed here tore a giant hole in Denny Thompson's cow pasture. "Whoa... that's gonna leave a mark."

Bert picks up the mic and says, "Unit one to dispatch."

"Go ahead, Sheriff." Em's voice comes back.

"Yeah, Em. I'm up here at Thompson's. Looks like we got a meteoroid that crashed down here. No injuries to persons... I haven't looked around for cows yet."

"It's a meteorite, Dad! Meteo_roids _are in space... meteorites are on the ground.

Bert gives Annie a big smarmy smile, keys the mic and says "Correction to my last, Em. Meteorite."

"Copy that, Sheriff. What's the difference?"

"That's not important right now, Em. Call up Joe and Ed and tell them to stop bothering them waitresses at the diner and get up here to secure the scene. Get on the horn with State and let them know what we got. Ask them what we gotta do. I never dealt with something like this. Also, call Chief Harris at the firehouse and tell him this thing is smoking and we don't want a brush fire to get started up. And tell him I wouldn't put any water on the meteorite unless State tells us it's safe to do so."

"Roger that, Sheriff."

"Now, I'm gonna get a quick look around and then I'm gonna run Annie over to the high school. I'll be heading back up here after that..."