She opened the hatch and was gone. Green fell onto his side, hugged his knees, and tried to think of anything else. It was impossible. It was all more than he could process. The memory had been a hot stove, now it was a house fire he couldn’t escape. He shut his eyes tight and wished he could simply pass out.
He heard Valentina’s footsteps, but he couldn’t open his eyes. The fire was spreading. He was choking on smoke.
There was a soft plop near his ear and something changed.
The fire was there, but the roof was gone. A cold breeze swirled through the house and ushered away the dark smoke. A steady rain fell. The flames guttered and died.
Died. My death. I died. And then…I didn’t.
He opened his eyes.
Six inches from his face, Blobert sat on the wooden floor, pulsating and blinking at Green with too many eyes.
“Oh, it’s you.”
He knuckled tears away and rocked into a sitting position.
“May we continue?” Valentina said.
“Jesus, lady.”
She shifted a chair and sat across from him.
“The phobophage will make this conversation easier.”
He took a steadying breath.
“Come on. Say Blobert. Just say it once.”
“I will not.”
He wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
“Alright. I can talk. But I don’t think there’s anything else I can tell you.”
“Very well,” she said. “In the future, please do not hold back suchinformation. We can work on deepening our understanding of your situation together. Let me examine your acorn.”
Valentina held out her hand.
Reluctantly, he passed it over.
She held it up and scrutinized it. She smelled it. She listened to it. She produced an iron nail from her pocket and touched it to the acorn’s cap. She whispered something to the nut, then looked at it as if expecting a response. Then, she handed it back.
“As far as I can tell, it’s an acorn. White oak is my best guess.Quercus alba.”
“That’s all?”
“That is all for now. It may be that acorn is giving you some form of protection. It may be that your near death, or rather undone death, has altered your relationship with mortality in some way we cannot yet determine. Clearly something unusual allowed you to survive the fawn’s presence. These are questions we will pursue, but not tonight. I am content that I now at least know the shape of your situation, if not the details. Tonight, we have other pressing business.”
Valentina looked out the window.
The western sky was starting to blush.
“It’s time to go.”
Dancer walked down the gravellane pulling a red wagon with an enormous peace lily in the bed. She intercepted Valentina and Green just as they were turning off the lane to hike to Wildwood Stable.
“Evening. What summons you two into the woodland dusk? I do believe the sky is getting a running start at a postcard sunset.”
