Blame Aphrodite by Ash Dylan

Author:Ash Dylan [Dylan, Ash]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-13T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20 – Second day II

Half an hour later, they left the library, knowing the extended family history of everyone involved in the incident. Alice and Odeta had to bite their tongues when the librarian said the accident victim used to sit on his lap when he was the local holiday Santa.

As they left, Odeta said, “I tell you, you find the right small town, that would be a good place to call home.”

“You could see yourself settling here?”

“Not here, necessarily. But somewhere with a general store called General Store, one gas station, a quaint used bookstore that hopefully doesn’t smell too much of cat. Everyone knows who you are. Hopefully most people accept who you are. Yeah, I’d prefer that to a big city.”

“Wouldn’t you miss all the people?”

“You tell me. You live in a big city. Honestly, how many people do you really know?”

“Other than in my firm?”

“Of course.”

Alice thought, and the answer depressed her. “Maybe that’s part of growing up. Losing touch with people.”

“It doesn’t have to be. You’re not nearing retirement. You’re almost 30. That’s plenty young to still get out there and enjoy yourself.”

“How many people do you know?”

“As many as I need to.”

“And not a person more,” Alice said.

“I know Saban, and you. That’s pretty much it.”

They went back to the same café, where the same waitress sat them at the same table. They ordered different food this time: a house salad and soup, with coffees. From their table, they looked out the window at the placid pond that had been immortalized in Autumn Mist.

“Do you ever think he got tired of staring out at the pond?” Odeta asked.

“I’m not sure I would. It’s so peaceful here. Very relaxing.”

“Not like on top of a building, looking out over the cityscape,” Odeta said.

“How did you know about that? That’s exactly what I saw when you hypnotized me.”

“I’m the one who hypnotized you. Of course I know what you saw.”

Alice thought back to her memories, which for all she knew could have been wish-fulfilled dreams. “I remember some things, but not all of it. What exactly happened? And how could you be ordering me to do stuff in real life, but with me on top of the building at the same time?”

“That’s my gift,” Odeta said, but offered no other explanation.

They ate in silence.

“What about the card tricks Maggie did?” Alice asked.

“What?” Odeta asked.

“Your mom, at the show.”

“Right,” Odeta said.

Alice went to a shelf of communal board games that customers could use while they ate. She grabbed a deck of cards and returned to the table, handing the cards to Odeta. “Is that a gift?”

“No, that’s practice.”

“Show me something.”

Odeta took the cards, absent-mindedly shuffling while she thought of what to demonstrate. She settled on dealing out three cards face up. It happened to be a 3, a 9, and a Jack.

“So, three-card monte. What people do on the street.” She showed Alice how to bend the cards, and the technique for passing them around. She moved

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