Doloise stood in the doorway behind us.<\/p>\n
“I am your Guardian and Guide,” is all she said to me.<\/p>\n
I took a look at her.\u00a0 It had been a slow transition, but while she was still wearing outrageous heels and amber glasses, something about her outfits had changed.\u00a0 Instead of sharp (and dangerous!) curves, there were more balanced looks to them, cuts that suggested more conservative considerations.\u00a0 Was she growing up or changing or (more disturbing) fitting my particular needs?<\/p>\n
“Even into the mouth of a Dragon?” I asked.\u00a0 I meant it to be funny, but she just nodded sharply.<\/p>\n
I watched her as she turned around, pushing open the door.\u00a0 I smiled at Ivan.\u00a0 “I’ll be in touch.\u00a0 Don’t sniff the fewmets or get into any arguments with the undead, alright?”\u00a0 I made it sound like I gave that kind of advice every day and then hurried to catch up with Doloise.<\/p>\n
Funny, usually I led.<\/p>\n
She walked back to the car.\u00a0 Nellie was no where to be seen, which, of course, made me temporarily concerned that Doloise had, I don’t know, eaten her.\u00a0\u00a0 I looked around the parking lot which seemed somewhat empty for a Saturday afternoon.\u00a0 Well, maybe they’d have a large dinner crowd.\u00a0 Actually, for being such a main thoroughfare, Colfax itself seemed kind of devoid of traffic.\u00a0 Was there a game on or something that I’d missed?<\/p>\n
That feeling of oppression, maybe – a lot of people could be sensitive to such, and decide to stay home.\u00a0 I guessed that was it.\u00a0 But a lot more people were completely blank to it, so why not have a steady stream of cars out on the road?<\/p>\n
I frowned and got in behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
“The sorceress would see your bones ground into bread,” Doloise said.<\/p>\n
“I bet she tells that to all the fellows,” I replied, mostly on automatic.\u00a0 Where were people?<\/p>\n
A few birds fluttered on the phone lines.\u00a0 “You are not concerned to become a pastry, I take it.”<\/p>\n
“You are what you eat.\u00a0 It’s only my fabulous metabolism that’s kept me from being slow enough to be dipped in sprinkles.”\u00a0 Well, I could still go to the gym.<\/p>\n
“She is sorceress enough to do it.\u00a0 I do not understand her…animosity.”<\/p>\n
“I am like her husband, waking up things that ought to have died long ago.”\u00a0 I started the car up.\u00a0 I wasn’t actually in a hurry to go home, but I wasn’t sure exactly where to go.\u00a0 I was wound up in a strange way.\u00a0 I figured I’d just head east and see what interested me on the way.<\/p>\n