Wraiths of Time Read Free Page B

sweet-sour pork, I like—”
    â€œFortune cookies?” He broke open one and unrolled the paper slip inside with the air of a judge about to pronounce sentence.
    â€œWell, well, this is apt enough. ‘Food cures hunger, study cures ignorance.’ What weighty thought lies in yours?”
    Tallahassee produced her own. “That’s odd …”
    â€œWhat’s odd? They put the bill for this feast in yours, Tally?”
    â€œNo,” she answered a little absently and read: “Dragon begets Dragon, Phoenix begets Phoenix.”
    â€œI don’t see anything odd about that. Just another way of saying ‘like begets like.’”
    â€œIt could have another meaning, too. The dragon was the Emperor’s symbol—no one else dared use it. And the phoenix was that of the Empress. It could mean that royalty begets only royalty.”
    â€œWhich is just what I said, isn’t it?” queried Jason, watching her intently.
    â€œI don’t know—oh, I guess it is.” But why had she had that odd momentary feeling that the message of a fortune cookie, which was simply some old proverb, had a special significance for her?
    â€œLook here, I didn’t say anything because I had a hunch you didn’t want to talk about it.” Jason broke across her thought. “But what are you going to do about this Carey. It’s plain he’s going to make a brute of himself if he can. I wonder why?”
    Tallahassee had tried to keep their encounter with Dr. Carey out of her mind all through dinner. But she would have to face it sooner or later, and she might as well do so now that Jason had brought it into the open.
    â€œIt could be,” she returned frankly, “because I’m black. But I think mostly because I’m a woman. There’re a lot of Ph.D.’s floating around, and not all of them are whites either, who resent any female daring to crowd into their own particular field. Which is one reason, my dear, that we’re pushing for ERA—and you hear about Amazons giving the cry the matriarchy shall rise again! Oddly enough, matriarchy of a sort did persist, and right in Africa, too, for a long time. When a queen in Europe could be pushed around like a chess-woman on some plotter’s board, queens well to the south were leading their own armies and wielding such influence as no white skin dared dream of. Each kingdom had three dominant women, if not more—the queen mother, not necessarily the ruling king’s mother, but rather the most important royal woman of the preceding generation; the king’s sister, because only she could produce a royal heir—the king’s sons mostly didn’t count; and his first wife. Why, in Ashanti, the king’s wives had the duty of collecting all the taxes and had their own very efficient guards, attendants and the like, to do just that.”
    â€œSo—if Carey is the expert on African history he’s supposed to be,” commented Jason, “he ought to know all this. Maybe that’s why he wants to cut you down before you take over your natural-born rulership of his department. But”—Jason turned serious now—“look out for him, Tally. I think he could be an ugly customer if he sets out to be.”
    She nodded. “I know, and nothing can be deadlier than department politics. Luckily, Dr. Greenley has seen me work long enough to know what I can do. Jason, it’s nearly nine thirty!” She had glanced at her watch.
    â€œThe knife flaying the elephant does not have to be large, only sharp!”
    She gazed at Jason. “Now just what does that mean?”
    â€œWe had some wisdom of the East.” He gestured to the discarded scraps from the cookies. “I was merely supplying some from our own native stock. In other words, watch your step.”
    â€œI’ll probably be doing that so steadily I’ll trip over my own feet,” she agreed