E. Godz (23 page)

The squirrel bounded down the stairs and scurried up Edwina's skirt, hopped onto her
arm, and clambered onto her shoulder. When she reached up to scratch his belly, he
closed his eyes in delight and showed the world that squirrels do know how to purr.

"Ah, Mister Nibbles, what would I ever do without you?" Edwina mused aloud.
"Good job." Returning her attention to her children, she added: "Come into the parlor,
please. We've been waiting for you."

"And we have been waiting for you!" Dov declaimed, his cheeks still hot with
embarrassment. "It's all over, Mom! Your days of deceit are at an end."

"Of course they are, dear," Edwina said placidly, still petting Mister Nibbles. "Shall
we have a nice cup of tea to celebrate, now that you've finally arrived? I knew Mister
Nibbles would manage to detain you for a time, but I didn't think you'd be this late. Either
you took your sweet time treating Dov's leg or else my baby boy still runs to the ER over
any little scratch." She turned her back on them and ambled into the parlor.

Dov and Peez exchanged a look that was half bewilderment, half apprehension. "I
guess we've learned a valuable lesson here," Peez muttered. "Caffeine is no substitute for
genius. She knew we were coming. She knew enough to sic a spy squirrel on us and hold
us up so she could make tea! She probably stockpiled enough magic from her own
batteries to counter any spells we could throw at her before you even accessed her
accounts. Not a lot of punch left to a surprise attack once you take the surprise part
away."

"Don't be silly, Peez darling," Edwina called from the parlor. "I was very surprised.
Really, I was. Now come in here before all the scones are gone. I've got your favorite
flavor: orange-cranberry."

Reluctantly, suspiciously, Dov and Peez entered the parlor just in time to see Edwina
in a tug-of-war over the last orange-cranberry scone with Teddy Tumtum. Mister Nibbles
was chittering angrily at the bear, who was seated on the sofa within easy grabbing
distance of a large platter of scones, muffins, and assorted tea cakes.

"I might have known," Peez said bitterly, seating herself in a high-backed chair as far
from Teddy Tumtum as possible.

"You and me both," said Dov, taking the chair closest to his sister. He had just caught
sight of the glint of silver. Peez's treacherous teddy bear was wearing Ammi around his
furry neck.

"Give me back that scone, Teddy Tumtum," Edwina said. "It's not as if you're actually
able to eat it. You've just been tearing them to pieces and getting the crumbs all over my
nice, clean house."

"And my nice, clean head," Ammi added.

"I don't care." The bear was sulky. "This way she can't have 'em either."

"Now you're just being needlessly vindictive," Edwina chided him. She let him keep
the scone while she filled two teacups from the steaming pot and passed them around.
"What next, dare I ask? Tying her shoelaces together? Lighting bags of dog poop on her
front steps? Freezing her power assets through the Internet?"

She looked meaningfully at her children.

"You were right, Peez," Dov said.

"Once I found out that the two of you were together at last, I suspected you'd try
something. I wasn't sure what, but thanks to some inside information and advice"—
Edwina lavished a grateful look on Teddy Tumtum and Ammi—"I was able to narrow
down your possible points of attack."

"And you didn't try to stop us?" Peez asked. "You didn't make any ... withdrawals
before Dov secured your system?"

"I suppose I should have, but I was just so fascinated, watching you and your brother
at work together, that I lost track of time. Silly me."

"So that means that we—that we still control your magic?" The cup and saucer in
Dov's hands were clattering wildly.

"Well of course you do, dear. And I wouldn't have it any other way." Edwina sipped
her tea. "I suppose I owe you an apology," she went on. "Or not. I admit that I deceived
you, telling you that I was at death's door when in reality I haven't even begun to ask for
directions to his house."

"You don't think we deserve an apology for putting us through that?" Peez could
hardly believe what she was hearing. Inside she was a turmoil of conflicting emotions
which coalesced into the long, piteous cri de coeur that escaped her lips: "Mooommm!
That's not fay-yerrr!"

"I didn't want fairness; I wanted results. And I got them." Edwina gazed at her
children and smiled. "I also want to retire, travel, visit old friends, make new ones, and
enjoy every last day of the rest of my life. I couldn't very well do that when the two of
you were still at each other's throats, now, could I? Well, I suppose I could have, if I
didn't mind watching the business I put together from nothing get torn to pieces before
my eyes like—like—" Her gaze wandered the room as if searching for an appropriate
image and at last fell on Teddy Tumtum. "—like a common orange-cranberry scone!" she
concluded.

"So this was all just a ploy to get us to make peace?" Dov asked, marveling at his
mother's bald-faced effrontery.

"You make that sound like a bad thing," Edwina replied, feeding bits of corn muffin
to Mister Nibbles. "But I don't think that's the only thing you got out of your travels, is
it?"

The Godz siblings thought this over.

"I can't speak for Dov," Peez said, "but I learned more about who our clients are and
what they believe than when they were just a list of names and numbers in the company
databank."

"Me, too," Dov said. "I guess it's better for everyone this way, huh? For Peez and me,
for the clients, for the company ..."

"And for me," Edwina concluded. She gave Mister Nibbles the last crumb of corn
muffin and stood up. "You may not believe me, but I love both of you more than words
can say. You're my children, and I've raised you the best way I knew how. I made
mistakes—I have yet to meet a parent who didn't—but I think that by and large you
turned out beautifully. You just needed a few finishing touches."

"You may love us as much as you claim," Peez said, "but you love the company
more. You said it yourself: The only reason you cared about getting Dov and me to
reconcile was so that we didn't destroy your precious E. Godz, Inc. after you were gone."

"Oh, Peez, do you really think that?" Edwina looked genuinely sad. "All this time
you've spent learning about the different ways we seek the power of the earth-magic, and
you've never once thought about how the earth herself treats her children? Sometimes
she's kind, sometimes harsh, sometimes she makes all of us cry out that she's unfair, but
always, always she provides for us and does her best to scatter her gifts with a generous,
even hand among all her children. If we can't see that, it's because we're children, and
children never see things the way their parents do until they become parents themselves."
Then she gave her daughter a very suggestive wink and added: "But that's something
you'll find out soon enough, my darling."

"Find ... out ... soon ... what?" Peez quavered.

"What it's like to be a mother." Edwina chucked Peez under the chin and added:
"Close your mouth, dear, you're gaping like a halibut, and there's something highly
disturbing about a pregnant halibut."

"Pregnant? Peez! I'm going to be an uncle!" Dov exclaimed. "Cool! Mom, are you
sure?"

"When you're in tune with the earth-powers, you become sensitive to lots of things," a
complacent Edwina told him. "My intuition is infallible in these matters, and much
classier than going tinkle on a chemically treated stick."

"Mooommm!" Dov moaned in agonies of mortification.

"But I—but he—but Martin—" Peez sputtered. "For the love of Margaret Sanger, we
only did it once!"

"I doubt that, dear," Edwina said, stooping to give her daughter a quick kiss on the
forehead. "But in any case, once is all it takes. Now I'm going to leave the company to
both of you and blow this pop stand as soon as humanly possible, but I promise I'll be
back in time to help you with the birthing. You'll want to ask Fiorella for some anti-
morning sickness spells right away, and get Mr. Bones to confect a little something to
ease the pain of labor—although you might like to try having the Reverend Everything
supervise an underwater birthing experience with those cute little dolphins of his. Oh, and
we must ask the Seshat-by-the-Shore congregation to work up a horoscope for the child,
and get Sam Turkey Feather to chant the proper blessings, and we have to invite Martin
Agparak, for obvious reasons, and—"

"Don't worry, Sis," Dov said, putting his arm around her while Edwina chattered on.
"You'll be a great mother."

"A Great Mother?" Peez echoed. She sighed and sank back in her chair, resigned.
"Wait until I tell Wilma."

Document ID: af40ec78-6c01-1014-a2df-8c25c964d947

Document version: 1

Document creation date: 02.06.2008

Created using: Text2FB2 software

• traum
  

This book was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.0.35.0.

Эта книга создана при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.0.35.0 написанного Lord KiRon