Fish Tails Read Free Page B

could only nod repeatedly. Oh, yes, it would be so good to have company. And if they would stay, he could show them and explain about the books. He murmured distractedly, “Oh, Sir Abasio . . .”
    â€œJust plain Abasio will do, Bertram.”
    â€œWell, if you see any ­people coming up from down the hill there . . . be careful. There’s been a bunch of Lorpists down there . . . I didn’t notice. Does your lovely wife have pierced ears? That would count against her ‘wholeness,’ you see. I suggest a scarf over the head and ears if she sees them coming . . .”
    â€œLorpists don’t like . . . what? Any trifling with the human body?”
    â€œThat’s it. Yes. And God help a man who loses a finger due to an accident. Lorpists feel it their duty to kill the rest of him so he doesn’t walk about as an affront to the Creator.”
    Blue had stationed himself by the window of the tailor’s shop, where he could hear the conversation. He relayed the word about the Lorpists to Ragweed.
    â€œWonder what one of ’em’d do if I kicked him in the you-know-wheres and he maybe lost a ball,” murmured Ragweed.
    â€œNow, Rags. Don’t go kicking up trouble,” said Blue.
    When Bertram had somewhat recovered himself, he invited them to stay as long as they liked. They would, yes, said Xulai, if he promised to go to bed and stay there until he was breathing properly. If he had any customers, she would see to them.
    Gratefully, Bertram said the horses could graze around the shop and into the little pasture that lay over that way. He was later amazed to find no horse droppings at all.
    Xulai explored the place; Abasio fired up the water heater behind the shop and left it to gurgle warmly to itself. When it was hot enough, he and Xulai and the babies (though they didn’t particularly like hot water) had a bath. Afterward, Xulai used their bathwater to wash all their blankets and she hung them over Bertram’s side fence to dry. For some time, there had been no stream or pool to give them even a halfway convenient place to wash. The back of Bertram’s house was built right up against the mountain for some reason—­which they discovered later. Xulai invaded Bertram’s kitchen, found the ingredients for a proper soup, took a bowl to his bedside, and fed it to him.
    Meantime, Blue and Rags received a visitor. A very dirty small boy came sneaking out from under a bush and, seeing the wagon appeared empty, decided to explore it. The boy was blocked by a very large horse. The boy decided to go in over the wagon seat and found his way blocked by another horse.
    â€œBlassit,” said the boy. “I ’uz just goin’ to look! Was’n gonna take nothing.”
    â€œWhat’s your name?” asked Blue.
    â€œYou can’t really talk, can you?” the boy asked. “Somebody’s hidin’ somewhere pretendin’ to be your voice.”
    â€œRagweed and I can talk. I was given the gift of speech by some very lofty creatures, angels maybe. Ragweed got her voice from a woman named Precious Wind, friend of Xulai’s. It requires some trifling with the anatomy and it won’t work on just everyone. What’s your name?”
    â€œI got a dog, maybe she could get him to talk.”
    â€œWhat’s your name, boy? Either tell me or I’ll kick you all the way down the hill.”
    â€œWillum,” said the boy.
    â€œWILLUM,” came a call from down the hill. “WILLUM, you get yourself back down here and eat your supper.”
    â€œQuit upsetting your mother,” said Blue. “Go on and get your supper. We can talk again later. Looks like we’ll be here for a day or so.
    The boy left them. “You don’t usually talk to brats,” said Ragweed.
    â€œNo. Have a strange feeling about this one, though.”
    The boy came back, some time later.