Jumper Cable Read Free

stepped on it, other threats faded, knowing they couldn’t do anything. That was a relief.
    “Now all we have to dew is follow this until we reach the Good Magician’s Castle,” Wenda said confidently. Jumper wondered whether it could be that simple. He really didn’t quite trust this odd realm. He wished there were a magic path leading back to his own realm.
    Sure enough, they had hardly started walking along the enchanted path when a large bird coasted in for a landing before them. “What is that?” Jumper asked as the thing braked to a sliding stop on the path, blocking their way.
    “Oh my hollow head!” Wenda exclaimed. “It’s a stork!”
    “There is something wrong with a stork?”
    “Knot exactly. They deliver babies.”
    “Small humans? Why would they do that?”
    “It’s complicated to explain. Just be satisfied that the stork has no business with us.”
    “It looks as if it has business,” Jumper said. For the bird was walking toward them.
    “I’d better talk to it,” Wenda said. “There’s been some mistake.”
    The stork hailed them. “Greetings, fair nymph, monster spider.”
    “We dew knot want any,” Wenda said. “I never even let a lout touch me.”
    “I am not looking for you, nymph. I am looking for Maeve Maenad. There’s a special delivery for her.”
    “A maenad?” Wenda asked, astonished. “They dew knot signal storks!
    They’re wild bloodthirsty bare women who would as soon bite a man to death as kiss him.”
    “That may be the case,” the stork agreed, “but we received a definite signal from one of them, and the delivery must be made. I am the supervisor, here to resolve an awkward situation. It is very unusual to lose a potential mother. Have you seen her?”
    “We have knot,” Wenda said. “And we hope knot to. Maenads are dangerous.”
    “Thank you. But keep an eye out for her.” The stork re oriented, ran down the path, spread his wings, and finally managed to take off. In two and a half moments he disappeared into the sky.
    “Keep an eye out?” Jumper asked.
    “The bird wants us to keep on eye on the maenad, in case she shows up.”
    “I have eight eyes, but I need them all. I don’t want to put one on anyone.”
    She smiled. “That is knot literal. Knot in this case. It just means to watch for her.”
    “Oh.” Jumper was relieved. “So we have to look for her?”
    “Knot really. We dew knot want to find her. But maybee she will bee like an inanimate object.”
    “How is that?”
    “They always hide in the last place yew look for them.”
    Jumper was confused again. This was one really strange realm! “So let’s not look.”
    “Of course,” she agreed.
    Jumper was glad that was settled, and that he didn’t have to risk any of his eyes looking for something they did not want to find. They resumed walking. “That’s weird,” Wenda said. “A stork looking for a maenad. There must be a glitch in their paperwork.”
    So it seemed it wasn’t quite done with. “I am not clear what this is about.”
    “Oh. That’s right. I guess yew wood knot know. Yew see, sometimes two humans— a boy and a girl, usually— get together and signal the stork, in that way telling it they want a baby. The signal goes out in the form of an ellipsis. That’s three dots loaded with significance. The stork bureaucracy is very inefficient, and it takes them anywhere up to nine months to deliver the baby. They follow the path of the dots back, locate the mother, and give it to her.”
    “You’re right. That does seem complicated.”
    “But maenads dew knot signal the stork. They use their sex appeal to lure men close so they can pounce on them and bite them to death. Even most village louts know better than to get close to one of those bloodthirsty creatures. So it’s ridiculous for a stork to try to deliver to a maenad. It has to bee a mistake.”
    “It must be,” Jumper agreed. This realm was proving to be every bit as weird as it first seemed.
    “Oh,