Asprin & Friesner E. Godz

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we can hear ourselves talk over the noise of several million people
whistling past the graveyard. We worship youth and beauty not for
their own sakes but because we tell ourselves that the young and the
beautiful never die. We follow a thousand different health fads
because we believe that there's some magic number of granola bars
that will let you live forever, but only if you wash them down with the
right kind of one hundred percent natural spring water while
standing on the Sacred Treadmill. My generation's called the Baby
Boomers for a reason: We act like babies when it comes to facing the
inevitable. If we close our eyes, cover our ears, and hide under the
blankets, Death won't be able to find us."
The inevitable . . . Dov thought. My mother is going to die. He had
known it for days, he had been saddened by it, but for the first time he
truly felt it. Tears stung the corners of his eyes.
"The ancient Egyptians loved life just as much as we do," Ray Rah
went on. "They loved all the physical joys and comforts of day-to-day
living. That may be why they found a way to take it with them. But our
way is not just about being buried in your red
Thunderbird convertible: It's about knowing that someday you will
have to be buried. We who follow the old ways know this, and trust
me, knowing that today could be the last day of the rest of your life is
not as scary as it seems."
"You get used to the idea," Dov said. "Is that it?"
Ray Rah nodded and smiled, cracking his blue face paint. "Exactly."
"And this ritual is to help you get used to the idea that Edwi-that Mom
is going to die soon?"
Ray Rah nodded again. "To help us, but mostly to help you. We
figured that it was the least we could do for you, since we've already
pledged our support to your sister as the future head of E. Godz, Inc."
Dov was surprised that the news of Peez's victory didn't affect him at
all. He was preoccupied by thoughts of a more important loss. "Thank
you," he managed to tell Ray Rah. "It's very kind of you. I wish I could
stay longer, but- I'm sorry." His usual glibness deserted him.
My mother is going to die. I'll never see her again, never hear her
voice, never even be irritated by the way she treats me like I'm still a
baby. My mother is going to-
He wheeled around and ran out of the Temple of Seshat-by-the-Shore
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before any of them could see him cry. On the way out, he collided with
a young man carrying two heavy shopping bags. Dov knocked him off
his feet without a second thought as he ran on, sending forth a taxi-
summoning spell like a flare. By the time he reached the street, a cab
was waiting.
The young man he'd overrun sat in a puddle of bright red fruit while
he watched Dov speed away. The front steps soon crowded
with Ray Rah and the rest of the congregation. The young man looked
from the departing cab to the mounds of smashed fruit to the group
on the stairs and said, "I got the pomegranates. Did I miss anything?"
"Not much, Billy-hotep," said Meritaten. "C'mon in and have a beer."
Chapter Fifteen
"My dear young woman," Mr. Bones said with a winning smile. "Had I
but known how beautiful you were, I would not have been so quick to
promise my support to your brother." He raised Peez's hand to his
lips and bestowed a delicate kiss.
"You flatter me, Mr. Bones," Peez replied. "But please, don't worry
about whatever you've promised or to whom you promised it. I'm
disappointed, of course, but it was your choice to make."
The two of them were standing in front of one of several New Orleans
restaurants calling itself the Court of the Three Sisters. Peez had
found him there by chance, in the course of a thorough search of the
Vieux Carr�, in much the same way that Dov had encountered the
venerable voodoo priest. It was at least as effective a way of finding
Mr. Bones as saying "Meet me in front of the Court of the Three
Sisters" without specifying which one. There were several. Since
every tourist who came to visit New Orleans was told by the folks back
home that he or she simply must eat at the Court of the Three Sisters,
could the local restauranteurs be blamed for trying to accommodate
them?
"You are as gracious as you are beautiful," Mr. Bones said. He was
wearing his full regalia, though his staff had been redecorated
recently. Fresh ribbons had been added, and fresh bones. He glanced
up at the restaurant's artfully painted sign. Teddy Tumtum was
peering over the lip of Peez's carry-on bag and misinterpreted what
was really just a casual action.
"Sheesh! What [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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