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"A fire?"
"For the marshmallows. "
"Hey, Mister Lehrmann," said Bert as Sam came in. "How was your Christmas? Did your family make it over?"
"Yes, they did, Bert," said Lehrmann. "Everything worked out fine. "
"And did the dogs enjoy their Christmas lamb?"
"They did," said Lehrmann. "I'm sure they would thank you if they knew how. It's like I said, Bert. There's nothing like fresh meat for a dog. "
Chapter Three
The Haire of the Beast
Donna Andrews
Like Meg Langslow, the ornamental blacksmith heroine of her humorous mystery series from St. Martin's Press, Donna Andrews was born and raised in Yorktown, Virginia. These days she spends almost as much time in cyberspace as Turing Hopper, the Artificial Intelligence Personality who appears in her technocozy series from Berkley Prime Crime.
Although Andrews has loved fantasy and science fiction since childhood, during her years at the University of Virginia she grew fond of reading mysteries - particularly when she should have been studying for exams. After graduation, she moved to the Washington, D. C. , area and joined the communications staff of a large financial organization, where for two decades she honed her writing skills on nonfiction and developed a profound understanding of the criminal mind through her observation of interdepartmental politics.
Among her less savory hobbies is toxic horticulture, or gardening with poisonous plants. Last year's crop of wolfsbane was particularly fine.
"Why on earth would you want to be a werewolf?" I asked.
"Why not?" Tom said. "I mean, don't you think it would be cool?"
"Cool?" I repeated. I tried to keep my tone neutral, but brothers and sisters learn to read each other.
"Okay, maybe you wouldn't, but I'd love it," he said, through another mouthful of spaghetti. "Imagine being able to turn into a wolf, and run free through the forest. Having a sense of smell a thousand times keener than we do. Night vision. Wolves are cool. "
He was waving his beer in his enthusiasm, and spilling rather a lot of it.
"Wolves don't run free anywhere closer than Canada," I said, as I tried to mop up behind him. "Here in Virginia, if you see a wolf, it's either in a cage or a rug in front of someone's fireplace. They probably get shot at a lot, those free-range wolves. And unless it works way different than in the movies, it's not that you can turn into a wolf - you can't help it at the full moon. Take it from me, unavoidable monthly biological transformations are no picnic. "
"I knew you wouldn't understand," he said, sounding a little sulky. "You have no sense of adventure. "
"You're really going to try this?" I said, gesturing at the battered old book that lay on the table between us. "And what do you need my help for?"
"The spell's written in this really antique language," he said. "I thought you could help me figure it out. "
I shook my head - in exasperation, not refusal. I pulled the book closer to my side of the table and wrinkled my nose. It smelled musty, with faint undertones of matches and rotten eggs.
"Don't get spaghetti sauce on it," he warned. "Professor Wilmarth would kill me if I messed it up. "
"I'm surprised he let you borrow it," I said. "Or did he?"
Tom managed to have a really big mouth of spaghetti when he heard my question, and took his time chewing.
"You stole it," I said. "Tom!"
"I borrowed it," he said finally. "He's got a million of these old grimoires; he won't miss this one for a few days. I figured you could help me translate it. I mean, you did live with a leading medievalist for five years. "
I bit back a sarcastic comment. I'd learned the hard way that telling the truth about Phil, my ex, only sounded like sour grapes. So when people mentioned how brilliant he was, how well his career was going, how happy he was with his new girlfriend, I just nodded and smiled. No one would believe me if I told them how much of the research for Phil's dissertation I'd done. I wasn't the same book-smart-but-street-stupid kid who'd agreed to support him while he got his Ph. D. , only to get dumped when it was time for me to start mine. The new girlfriend could have him, whoever she was - and my money was on a bright young graduate student who could replace me as his researcher.
"I'm surprised you didn't ask Phil to help you with this," I said aloud. "Since he's such a leading medievalist and all. "
"If I was still talking to him, maybe I would," he said. "I told you - after what he did to you, I try not to have anything to do with him. "
