It was 2:30 and there was still one car parked on the stretch of Maple Street between Ace Hardware and the Palace Diner. The patrolman on duty phoned it in. Out of state tags, probably a tourist or maybe a salesman. The towtruck from Mike's garage was there in less than five minutes, and shortly thereafter the towtruck driver hooked it up and hauled it down to the lot. The owner wasn't going to be happy paying the $50 towing fee, but that's nothing to how they'd feel if the car just vanished. Anyway, the signs along that stretch of the street were very clear. "No Parking 2pm-4pm VEHICLES WILL BE TOWED."

At three pm on the dot the paved street disappeared and was replaced by a dirt surface. There was a crude wooden fence on either side, just shy of the curb, and another small fence down the middle marking the center of the jousting area. As soon as the change was complete, the people who had been standing well back against the storefronts surged forward to get a good spot at the fence to watch the battle.

As usual the Black Knight and his squires were down by the diner. People were craning their necks to see who his opponent would be today. It was always someone new, because those who fought the Black Knight never survived. This challenger wore a blue and gold surcoat over his chain mail, and his shield bore three blue crescent moons of a field of gold.

A trumpet sounded--loud, but horribly flat--and the two contestants started into motion, the horses charging at each other on opposite sides of the dividing fence, lances pointed at each other. They reached the center and there was a loud crash, the sound of lances breaking, and a second crash as the blue and gold knight landed on the ground, his armor making it sound like an explosion in a boiler shop. He sat there, dazed, until the Black Knight managed to bring his horse back around and swing his sword. There was a thud of the head hitting the ground, and a smaller crash from the armor as the headless body fell over onto the ground.

The Black Knight dismounted and picked up the head. He held it up, apparently to the front of the bank, but all the spectators assumed that he saw something else there. There had been lots of discussion since this whole thing started, and the general consensus was that the Black Knight was looking at some sort of reviewing stand, probably a king or nobleman.

After a minute or two the Black Knight dropped the head, bowed low, and remounted his horse. The horse walked down toward the Knight's squires, and the entire scene started to fade out. At the other end of the field, the attendants of the blue and gold knight were walking off despondently as they faded. Within a minute, the jousting field was gone, as was the dead body, and the pavement of Maple Street was back. The crowd was drifting away, and a man who had just come out of a store was demanding to know where his car had gone.

#

The meeting of the Town Council was louder and more unruly than it usually was, and Mayor Herb Grier was banging the gavel. When he finally got things calmed down, he said, "Gentlemen, gentlemen! We have a visitor, a distinguished visitor, here to talk to us about our, uh, daily occurrence. Gentlemen, Professor Cassidy of Montcalm College."

Cassidy, a small man in a tweed sports jacket, got up and moved to the microphone. "Good evening, gentlemen. As Mayor Grier has said, I teach at Montcalm College where I hold the Brittany Chair of Antiquities and Medieval Studies. I do research in both traditional historical studies, and in our College's rare Occult collection. In other words, part of what I deal with involves Magick, Sorcery, Witchcraft." He paused to let the buzz that had sprung up die down, then continued. "I have found the Black Knight in several old books, and all agree that he was a very powerful Wizard ... a Black Wizard!" This time the buzz that sprung up forced him to stop completely.

#

Several months ago the jousting field had first appeared in the middle of Maple Street, the town's main thoroughfare, with no warning. There had been cars parked along both curbs, and cars driving down the street. There had even been a few pedestrians crossing the street in various places. All of those had vanished, none had ever returned. The second appearance had been almost as bad since nobody had expected a recurrence of the event. After that, though, there were few losses. The "No Parking" signs had gone up, and Mike's garage was ready each afternoon to tow the few cars not moved by 2:30. A few families were still mourning people who had vanished, but most had gotten back to their normal lives.

And everyone, almost everyone in town, came out to Maple Street each afternoon to see the show.

#

Professor Cassidy was present again at the next Town Council meeting. "Professor," said the Mayor, "I understand you have more information about our situation. What can you tell us about it?"

Cassidy stepped up to the microphone. "There are accounts of this in several books in our collection. The Black Knight was vassal to an evil Baron named Johann, or perhaps Ivan. The Knight would challenge the Baron's enemies to a joust. As the battle started the Knight would magickally invoke certain elementals and fog would shroud the field. It would clear minutes later with the opposing knight dead. What we are seeing is the events inside that fog. To stop this we must kill the Black Knight. A modern assault rifle with armor-piercing ammo should go through his medieval chainmail like it was a jersey T-shirt."

The local police force was totally lacking in assault rifles, but several days later an ace marksman from the National Guard arrived in town with his weapon. He carefully picked his spot, and the area on the other side of the street was cordoned off--just in case. Three o'clock came, the jousting field appeared and the horses thundered toward each other. Just before they reached the center the marksman fired three times. There was no effect on either knight, but across the street the alarms in the bank went off. The bullets had completely missed their targets and taken out a large part of the glass front window of the bank, as well as wreaking other havoc within the bank.

That evening's special Town Council meeting saw Professor Cassidy defending himself against two bank Vice-Presidents as well as members of the Council. "Gentlemen, I admit I erred. Apparently the elementals made the twenty-first century bullets go _past_ rather than _through_ the space containing the jousting field. To succeed we will need weapons that can be carried onto the field of battle, and that at least appear to be medieval."

"And how do you propose to do that, Professor?" asked the Mayor.

"There are groups all over the country who do medieval re-enactments, including jousting. We can get a champion jouster from one of these groups, and equip him with weapons that look authentic but are far superior to those of the Black Knight. In other words, we cheat! But this is going to cost a bit of money. Mr Mayor, can we depend on the town to cover expenses?"

It took two weeks, and a lot of squabbling about money among members of the Town Council, but everything was ready. Assembled in front of the hardware store where the Black Knight's opponent always appeared were the Mayor and Council, Professor Cassidy, and an armored knight on horseback. "Gentlemen," said Cassidy, "this is retired Army Sergeant Eagleton, probably the best jouster in the US. He fights as 'The Red Eagle.'"

"Thank you, Professor," said Eagleton.

"What about the weaponry?" asked the Mayor.

"My sword is made from the best modern steel, the lance has a chrome steel reinforcing rod down the center. And my armor is steel rings instead of wrought iron, plus I'm wearing a Kevlar vest under it." He stopped as the street started to fade into the jousting field, and then moved out as several policemen intercepted the real knight and his squires who had also appeared.

Eagleton took his position. The usual off-key trumpet sounded, and the two warriors started toward each other, lances leveled. They reached the center with the usual crash, but this time it was the Black Knight who was unhorsed as Eagleton's steel-reinforced lance remained intact. The Black Knight struggled to try to get to his feet as Eagleton swung his horse around to return for the final blow.

"Professor! Professor! You have to stop it! Don't let him kill the Black Knight!" One of Cassidy's assistants came running up, out of breath, shouting as loudly as he could.

"I can't stop him, he'd never be able to hear me. What's wrong?"

"We just figured out that last book, the one in Latin. If the Black Knight is killed, the elementals will be out of control, we have no idea what they might do. We have to keep the Black Knight alive until the spell fades."

At that moment Eagleton brought his sword down, and the Black Knight's head bounced on the ground. For a heartbeat nothing happened, then the stores along either side of Maple Street faded and vanished. Where the bank had been was indeed a reviewing stand, and behind it was a castle. Off to the side was a small village of thatched cottages. The townspeople who had gathered to watch were still there, but they were now wearing peasant garb.

Cassidy looked down and saw that his usual tweed sports jacket had changed, he was now wearing the academic robes of a medieval professor. "Oops!" he said.

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