Page 86 of The Very Virile Viking

Angela wasn't worried about Juan. He was a good young man who would respect the invisible age taboo. Besides, he had a girlfriend. When Kirsten turned eighteen and Juan was twenty-two, that might be a different matter.

For the next few hours they walked around admiring the exhibits, everything from dried flower arrangements to fruit and vegetable preserves to fine needlework. Lida fell asleep in her stroller right away. When Angela fingered the finely crafted quilts, Magnus decided to buy her one in a star-and-heart pattern.

"This is much too expensive a gift," she said, even as he was paying for the item, and the woman was wrapping it in tissue.

"We Vikings love to give gifts more than anything else… well, almost anything else." He pinched her butt to show what he meant… as if she were clueless… as if any female over the age of twelve could misinterpret the hot look in his eyes. "Some say we are generous to a fault betimes, but methinks we get back what we give in life. And even if we do not, there is joy in the mere giving."

"So what you're saying is, 'Shut up and accept the gift.'"

"Something like that," he replied with a laugh. "Or, 'Shut your teeth and give me a gratitude kiss.' "

She did just that, gladly.

"You are so embarrassing, Father," Kirsten said in a mortified whisper. She had come up behind them with Dagny and Lily, who were hooting with laughter. "Men your age should not be interested in kissing… and, like, stuff."

"Men my age?"

"Old men," she said with disgust.

"Old? I am not old. Besides, men and women never get too old for kissing… and stuff." He lifted her by the waist then, twirled her around twice, then kissed her soundly and loudly on the mouth.

Kirsten just giggled, then hugged her father warmly.

"Can I get twirled, too?" Dagny asked.

"For a certainty," Magnus said, and gave the younger girl equal treatment.

What a father! Angela thought, and immediately added, What a man !

After that they ate and ate and ate. Hot sausage and meatball sandwiches. Corn dogs on sticks. French fries and onion rings. Fresh-squeezed lemonade. Funnel cakes. Popcorn. Lida, who was awake by now, favored cotton candy and cherry slushes, though she was given only a tiny taste of each.

Storvald found a woodworker who showed him how to use razor-sharp scalpels to create different effects on cherry-wood panels. His father promised to buy him a similar set.

Torolf kept winning at the anvil-and-bell game until he had six stuffed animals and a request from the operator to please move on.

Magnus almost had a heart attack when Hamr and Njal came over and discreetly dropped their shorts to show him the tattoos on their behinds. Fortunately they were removable ones. The boys danced away,

laughing, when their father reached out to swat them. Those two really were little devils.

The others were off riding the amusement rides. A small Ferris wheel, which Magnus declared "for demented people only." A merry-go-round. A mixer. A loop-the-loop. And bumper cars.

She and Magnus moved on to the fresh produce displays. How a man could be so interested in turnips and carrots and string beans was beyond her, but Magnus surely was. Angela took a now-restless Lida out of her stroller, changed her damp diaper, then let her walk around as Magnus stopped at stand after stand to speak with the farmers displaying their wares.

"How do you get beans this size?

"Do you use fresh fertilizer? Do you prefer cow manure over horse or pig shit?

"Do you save your kitchen garbage for the pigs, or do you put it back into the soil? Compost? What is that?

"When is the best time to plant spring onions? How about winter wheat?

"What effect does the hot temperature here have on your produce? Is there enough rain?

"Can a man make a living as a farmer?

"Farm supports? What are they?… What ? Your government pays you not to grow certain crops? That is insanity… surely, it is."

On and on Magnus went, asking question after question of the farmers, who loved talking about their work and their products. Angela could see that Magnus was in his element here. His questions were intelligent. His interest was genuine.