“Alright, nut job. You have exactly three seconds to get out of my room.â€? I raised the bat overhead. He just kept on staring with those golden flecked eyes.

“Three.â€? He smiled a little bit, a crooked smile as if he had just thought of a hilarious joke.

“Two.â€? He was pretty well built, for an older guy. I would have said he was in his forties, but his skin was leathery from the sun, so I could have overestimated.

“One.â€? I knew if I swung at him, I would be in for a hell of a fight estimating by his height and build. But also he just sat there looking at me, like he was a friendly uncle or something. It was damned unnerving.

I swallowed my hesitation and aimed for his head. There was a queasy rush as adrenaline squeezed out into my blood stream. Time seemed to slow down as the bat made contact with his skull.

Instead of a bone shattering crunch, the bat exploded in a puff of feathers, as if I had just whacked him with a down pillow.

He laughed through the multicolored cloud drifting slowly to the ground.