By Paths Coincident

Chapter 10

The blonde young woman's eyes were wide and eager as she demanded tales about Spencer's childhood, and for an instant, Eve was reminded a bit of Cassandra. Stone was going to be putty in Martha's hands.

Stone smiled at her. "That was a long time ago."

Bowing his head for a moment, he seemed to consider what he would say.

The Librarian team was scarcely less curious than the Brew Pub crew. Cassandra leaned forward and fixed her attention on Stone.

Finally, he raised his head and smiled. "I remember back when we were, oh, maybe three or four years old. Well, I don't remember much, but everyone always told this story. We were at a birthday party at a neighbor's, and Eliot went missing. Eliot went missing a lot." He tilted his head and wrinkled his forehead. "Come to think of it, that was a bit of an omen. I reckon his mama would have liked to tie him up if it hadn't been illegal in the state of Oklahoma. At first the parents just milled around calling his name as usual, but it became apparent that he really had vanished. Everyone started to panic. They called his daddy at work, because it looked like a major search would have to be made. His daddy asked if there were any animals nearby. Well, there was a stud farm next place over."

"What's a stud and how do you farm it?" asked Martha.

Stone laughed his hearty, carefree laugh. "Sorry. Country vocabulary. Horses. They raised horses."

Martha shuddered. "Ugh. I don't like horses. Is this a scary story?"

"Mama, those horses been dead for years." Colin reassured her. "They won't hurt you."

"It's not a scary story," Stone said.

"Okay," Martha agreed. "What happened to Eliot?"

"Well." Stone leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach, getting into his yarn. "They found him in the barn playing in the stallion's stall, under its feet. He was petting its legs and plotting how he could get on its back. That big ole' fellow was just standing there, not moving, like he was afraid he'd step on the little guy. Everyone agreed it was a miracle like Daniel in the lions' den."

"I like lions," Martha exclaimed. "What's that story?"

"Seriously?" Colin looked at her with a mixture of pity and incredulity. "You never heard that one? Babe, you and me gotta do some remedial readin'."

"Oh, good!" said Martha.

"I just think it was Eliot," Stone said. "He always had a way with animals."

"Do you think Eliot would like a horse?" Martha asked Colin.

"You don't like horses," Colin pointed out with exaggerated patience.

"I know, but we could keep it on the roof, and I just wouldn't go up there."

Eve's impression that Martha did not interface with the world quite the same as most people strengthened.

"How would you get it up there? What would it do there? Besides, you're always on the roof," Colin said.

Martha frowned, perplexed. "Oh. Right. Where can you put a horse in Portland that I don't go?"

"There might be a stable somewhere you could board a horse," Stone offered, looking amused.

Martha granted him a dazzling smile. "It can be his birthday present," she decided, as though her every whim was a possibility.

"We'd better let Eliot pick his own horse," Colin said reasonably. "We don't know nothin' about horses. We'd probably get one that was missing, oh, I dunno, a leg or somethin'."