Someone called in a report that she had

seen a man painting in the dark over by the

pond. A police car was dispatched to go in-

vestigate. The two officers with their big

flashlights walked all around the pond, but

found nothing suspicious. Hatcher was the

younger of the two, and he said to Johnson,

"What do you think he was painting?" Johnson

looked bemused and said, "The dark, stupid.

What else could he have been painting?" Hatcher,

a little hurt, said, "Frog in the Dark, Lily

pads in the Dark, Pond in the Dark. Just as

many things exist in the dark as they do in

the light." Johnson paused, exasperated. Then

Hatcher added, "I'd like to see them. Hell.

I might even buy one. Maybe there's more out

there than we know. We are the police after

all. We need to know."