Turn Read Free Page A

his puffy smile chockfull of delight.
    “Very funny, Grandpa. Maybe you should rinse it at least…gotta be pretty stinky in there.”
    “It doesn’t change what she is.”
    Though she had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, not until now did he seriously entertain, however gingerly, the possibility of her being something else than human.
    “Yeah? And what exactly is she?”
    “You should ask her.”
    “How am I supposed to do that? I can’t just call her and she appears. Or should I just start mumbling nonsense to myself and hope she’s intrigued?”
    Edgar didn’t in the least mirror Sono’s concern.
    “There are other ways.”
    “There are? Like…”
    His grandpa remained silent.
    “No, no, I’m not letting you do any of your shaman shit on me. I’m too old to start wetting my bed.”
    “I had no intention of doing anything of the sort you’re suggesting.”
    “And I’m not smoking your pipe either…”
    “I don’t want you to ever smoke this pipe, you hear?” Edgar fired back immediately and glared at him. “Never! Sono, listen; this pipe could cause you tremendous harm…iiiii.” Edgar appeared to be chasing away unspeakable horrors scurrying across the insides of his shut eyelids. With urgency he popped them open again and leaned forward, staring rabidly at Sono. “Haven’t I told you this?”
    Sono shook his head nonchalantly. His grandpa might’ve mentioned it once or twice in the past, but nothing that had really made a lasting impression.
    “These ingredients are mixed especially for me. No one else, not even my grandson. It took years to perfect the blend. Imagine what it could do to you!”
    Sono couldn’t grasp the consequences his grandpa fretted about, simply because he made no such attempt.
    “The smoke carries my breath. It’s a bridge, and a translator of sorts.”
    Sono glanced up with skepticism at the sky. “For what? Truckloads of nonsense?”
    “Possibly, yes.”
    His guileless demeanor deflated Sono without much effort at all, and subdued the likelihood of a caustic follow-up. He locked his teeth and lips together somberly.
    “You never know who or what responds. I’ve been taken aback myself a few times. It’s not always fun. For it to go through you without proper training…I don’t know what could happen. I…I don’t know.”
    His grandpa’s eyes remained widened as he stared into the ground. Whatever unfolded within the confines of his skull was kept there, duly sequestered, far from Sono’s reach.
    “What I’m trying to say is that smoking it could harm you. Do you understand, Sono, it could harm you?”
    “Yes, I do understand; it could harm me, big time. But what about the fumes? They don’t?”
    “No.”
    Sono threw his hands apart in wonder. “Why not?”
    “It can’t.”
    Sono clenched his teeth and pouted in dissatisfaction. “All right, professor, if you prefer me blind…hand me a stick. And sharpen the point.”
    “There are powers involved that…it’s too risky when you’re not initiated. But please, trust me, the smoke won’t harm you. I wouldn’t let it. The smoke that oozes out of the blend is too weak, and the smoke I exhale is changed. It’s pretty much harmless. But don’t ever smoke it pure, out of the pipe. Never suck it in like I do. That’s when it gets dangerous, when it hits the liquid and fuses with your spirit. Understand?”
    Sono nodded loosely. “Don’t worry; the way that shit smells, you’d have to force me.”
    “Good.”
    Standing perfectly still, Sono stole a quick glance of the glass jar in his grandpa’s hand, before lifting his gaze to his face and, finally, he looked the other away, taking a deep breath as he enlivened his bodily stillness.
    “You could go look for her…” Edgar suggested casually, abandoning the somber tones prevalent just moments ago.
    “Around here? I don’t have time for that.”
    “Why not?”
    “I work.”
    “Stealing is not work.”
    “Yeah, and being a shaman