AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARD Read Free Page A

each other. Bernard did not join in their conversation; they did not expect him to. He devoted himself to the food and ate his way steadily through every course offered to him. For dessert, Snooky brought out a huge cherry pie with mocha nut ice cream. Bernard’s eyes gleamed in the candlelight. Afterward, Snooky produced steaming mugs of apple cider with nutmeg and cloves, and they relaxed around the fire. Misty, having crept out from the bedroom to seek warmth by the hearth, had recovered enough to eat some of the food they had brought along for her. Now she lay collapsed, a pile of tangled red hair, at Bernard’s feet.
    “Tomorrow we’ll get up early and go for a walk in the woods,” announced Snooky.
    “No, thank you,” said Bernard.
    “Why not?”
    “I’m not getting up early.”
    “Whenever. The peak of the foliage is past, of course, but it’s still very beautiful in its own way. I’ve become a day person, Maya. Can you believe that? I get up early and go roaming in the woods. You haven’t smelled anything until you’ve smelled the mist rising off those big golden fungusthings at the base of the trees.” He glanced at Bernard with a faint smile on his lips. “You’re not much of a naturalist, are you, Bernard?”
    “I don’t care what you go out and snuffle early in the mornings, Snooky. I don’t care what you do. Just as long as you don’t put those big golden fungus things, as you put it so elegantly, into the stew, I could really care less.”
    “Bernard hates the city,” remarked Maya with affection, “but he also hates the woods.”
    “Bernard hates everywhere except for his own house.”
    “Bernard,” said Bernard sternly, “doesn’t like to be referred to in the third person, as if he weren’t there.”
    There was a contented silence, broken only by the hissings and poppings and cracklings of the flames. Misty yawned thunderously. They sprawled on the sofas, lulled into a happy stupor by the gentle heat.
    “Have you met any of the people who live in that town we passed through?” asked Maya at last, stifling a yawn.
    “Who, me?” said Snooky, roused from his contemplation of the fire. “Oh, yes. You know me, Maya. I can’t go anywhere without meeting a few people. I’ve made some friends.”
    Maya smiled at him. Snooky was not much in the way of working, but friendship was something he had a preternatural gift for. He could not go anywhere, in his extensive wanderings, without meeting people and striking up an acquaintance. It was something else William hated about him: William, who had no friends, just business partners.
    “Anyone special?” she asked now.
    “One. Her name is Sarah. You’ll meet her tomorrow. She has an interesting family. They’ve invited us over for lunch. We’ll go there when we get back from our walk.”
    “Don’t make too many dates for us, Snooky. You know how Bernard feels about that. And we did come up here to work.”
    “Yes. What’s the name of the newest book, Bernard?”
    Bernard, who made a living writing children’s books, did not reply.
    “Sheep or rats?”
    Bernard stared stonily into the fireplace.
    “
Mrs. Woolly Meets the Snowplow? Mr. Whiskers Sings Mozart?
”
    No reply.
    “Don’t be angry with me, Bernard. I’m only asking. I’m just expressing some interest in your career, you know that.”
    “He doesn’t like you taking an interest in his career, Snooky,” said Maya sharply. “You know better than to ask questions. It’s not easy for him to get started. He’s having a little difficulty with this one.”
    “It’s going to be about Mrs. Woolly,” said Bernard.
    “Ah!”
    “She takes a trip somewhere, I don’t know where. Somewhere exotic, like Baghdad or Burma. She gives advice. You know how it is.”
    Snooky nodded. He was familiar with Mrs. Woolly, a kind-eyed ewe who peered mistily and nearsightedly through her spectacles and dispensed well-meant advice like candy. “How about you, Maya? How are the