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him into the common room of the Golden Trout, after they had
sold a cow for what Bodric felt was a more than fair price. Bodric was in a
very jolly mood, so he had decided to celebrate with a cold mug of beer in the
common room of the Golden Trout. Koren was sitting with his father while Bodric
sipped beer, told stories, laughed, and discussed the weather with other
farmers, when Koren decided he wanted to try this 'beer' that all the men were
so eager to drink. His father had gotten up from the table, to play a game of
darts, and left his half-full mug of beer behind. No one was watching Koren, in
the dark corner of the common room. One sip, that ’ s all, just one little sip, he told himself.
But the stoneware mug was heavy, and at first he didn ’ t tilt it enough to make
the beer close enough to sip. Then he tipped it too far, and got a mouthful.
    Just at the
moment Koren ’ s
eyes flew open wide in surprise and he choked on the bitter brew, the giant
wooden vat in the back room of the Golden Trout burst open, and two hundred
gallons of what Tom Pettifogger claimed was the best beer in Crickdon county
came crashing through the door into the common room, washing away tables,
chairs and customers alike. Now, whether Tom Pettifogger ’ s beer was the best brew
in the county as he claimed, or, as some of his customers grumbled, was stale
swill not fit for horses to drink, was in dispute. Not in dispute was Tom and
Pricella ’ s
shock and anger, and also not in dispute, as far as the Pettifoggers were
concerned, was who was to blame: Koren.
    The Great Beer
Flood wasn ’ t
the first time that Koren had been present during an unfortunate incident in
Crebb ’ s Ford.
In fact, Koren had a reputation as-
    A jinx .
    There is no
nice way to say it. Koren was considered to be a jinx. A bad -luck charm.
Strange things simply seemed to happen when Koren was around. Bad things,
unfortunate things. Not that anyone ever saw Koren actually do anything
to make bad things happen, they simply happened. And always when young Koren
was involved.
    The first
couple times bad things happened around Koren, people laughed and said Bodric
needed to be careful about that boy. But when the blacksmith ’ s forge roared into a fire
so hot it caused a white-hot pillar of flame to shoot up through the roof of
the shed, at the exact moment young Koren yelped from burning his hand on a hot
poker, people began not so much to talk, as to grumble. Began to mutter under
their breath, to give Koren odd, unfriendly glances, and to wonder if, in fact,
Koren really was indeed a jinx. Even sensible adults began to wonder if Koren
was somehow cursed with bad luck.
    So, when the
Pettifoggers loudly banished Bodric and his boy from their inn after the Great
Beer Flood, no one in the village stood up for the boy. No one could say for
sure that Koren wasn ’ t
a jinx, now, could they? When Pricella tried to make Bodric pay for the
damages, well, people said she had gone a bit too far, and most townsfolk took
Bodric ’ s side
when he told Pricella exactly what he thought of her, the Golden Trout, and
their sour, flat beer. After all, what Bodric said was what pretty much
everyone in Crebb ’ s
Ford had wanted to say for years. Behind Pricella ’ s back, of course.
     
    Relations
between the Bladewells and the other families in Crebb ’ s Ford were strained for
years after that, with half the townsfolk saying Koren was a menace, half
saying there was no such thing as a jinx, and half saying, well, there might be
something to this talk about a jinx. There were three halves because
some people changed their minds about Koren, depending on the day, or the
weather, or what they ate for breakfast. Truth was, most people in Crebb ’ s Ford, and all of Crickdon
county, were poor farmers, scraping out a living on land they rented from the
Baron, and could not afford bad things to strike them or their family. Life was
hard enough without a jinx making things worse. A