“I'd like to see that,” Calabus said, his mouth not working right, his eyes beginning to cross.
“There's really very little to see. It's simply a mechanical device. Mostly made of copper, iron and tin. As you mentioned, it bites.”
“It speaks as well,” Sabatino said. “Might it do that?”
“No, it will not.” Finn made no effort to hide his growing irritation. “As you said, we do not care for one another. I don't see why we must play this ridiculous charade. My lizard is none of your concern. Neither is Letitia Louise. We are grateful you have taken us in, but I don't see we owe you an evening's entertainment for that. If you wish to satisfy our quarrel, I'll oblige you in the morning before we go.”
“I've got a-a marfel-marvelous invent-invention of my own, you know,” Calabus said, soup dribbling down his chin. “A craf-craf'sman like yourself would 'ppreciate seeing it, I know …”
“Father, shut up.
Finn had seldom seen a man filled with such rage. Sabatino's whole body trembled, and his features turned a brilliant shade of red, a color that did nothing to enhance his ghastly attire. Whatever the old man had said, his son wasn't far from a full-blown seizure or a stroke.
Calabus, however, had missed his son's fury, and gone to sleep instead.
Squeen William chose this moment to drag himself past the kitchen door.
“Desssert be ready, sssir. I be ssserving now?”
“Get out of here,” Sabatino shouted, shaking the table with the ball of his fist. “Out, or I'll skin your filthy hide!”
“What are we having?” Letitia said. “I mean, if it's not impolite to ask.”
“Whatever it is,” Sabatino said, “it isn't alive. At least I've cured the fellow of that …”
13
“Whatever they're having for breakfast, I intend to eat it,” Letitia said. “I've never been so hungry in my life.”
“You won't be here for breakfast, love. We'll be out of this asylum at first light. At 4:47, I believe.”
“With nothing to eat.”
“We shall eat aboard ship. The food there was no great treat, but it consists of things I've put in my belly before. Great Bees and Trees, did you hear what that fellow said? ‘Whatever it is, it isn't alive?’”
“That fish was all right,” Letitia sighed. “As long as you didn't peer into its eyes. Of course, I wouldn't eat it, but it didn't look as bad as the soup. There was something most peculiar in there, Finn.”
Finn turned over, reached across Letitia, and snuffed the smelly candle out. He didn't care for sleeping in the dark in such a place, but at least the night masked the bizarre decor of the room. He hoped there weren't many bugs about. Maybe they stayed away. Maybe the house was too dirty for them as well.
He touched Letitia's shoulder, and she folded herself against him: head, back, tummy and legs. It was always a marvel how perfectly she fit. Apparently, this had been planned in advance. A great many things seemed to work that way, one part matching the next. Like the tiny cogs and gears he put together to make a lizard go. If you did it just right, it looked as if it had simply grown that way.
It always made him feel grand to think of that. He had put a great many things together, and even one-Julia Jessica Slagg-that actually seemed alive. There was no question of that in Julia's “mind,” though Finn still harbored a few doubts himself.
Across the room on a table by the door, he could see the ruby glow of Julia's eyes. Julia didn't sleep, but Finn knew she “napped,” if you could call it that. It wasn't anything Finn had planned. It was simply something Julia did.
He felt a touch of apprehension, a little fear and doubt about the wisdom of bringing her along. Nearly everyone thought she was just a clever toy, a very fine machine. Now and then, though, someone gave her more thought than that. A seer at the far end of Garpenny Street had told him there was magic involved. The reason he'd said it, Finn was certain, was because it was something the man couldn't do himself.
And, worse still, there were those who were clever enough, and greedy enough as well, to feel they should have such a wonder as Julia themselves. People like Sabatino Nucci and his father. They both had that glimmer of lust in their eyes, that special look you saw in merchants, bankers and thieves.
Not the same look when a man saw Letitia Louise-that was a look quite different from anything else.
And what, Finn wondered, was he to make of the dinner table scene between Calabus and Sabatino? Whatever that was about, the son had nearly come unraveled when the tipsy old man had begun to speak of some invention of his own.
That, and the bizarre business of Hatters and Hooters. Finn would be glad to put it all behind him in the morning, and never look back. If, he reminded himself, that idiot didn't run him through at dawn. Strangely enough, he felt totally detached from that event, as if it were so ridiculous it could never come about.
Finn was certain he'd never sleep, but it wasn't long before he did. And, not long after that, he came fully awake again, and sat up in the bed.
The house creaked and groaned like a shaky old man, but this was a different kind of sound. A hoot was what it was, or a lot of hoots at once, like a flock of noisy owls. Only these weren't owls, he knew, but a pack of maniacs.
Beetles and Bones, what was wrong with these people? Why couldn't they act like the civilized folk back home? Granted, the prince, and the princes before him, had been at war with neighbors for seven hundred years, but nearly every kingdom did that. A war was a totally different thing. It wasn't about a bunch of crazies in yellow hats, or another bunch that howled at the moon. This sort of thing made no sense at all …
“Letitia, are you awake, dear?”
“I am now, Finn.”
“I'm sorry. I heard them. The Hooters. I wondered if you heard them too.”
“No, I didn't. As you guessed, I was asleep. I was dreaming about thistleberry pie. It was bubbling over, and sugary drops were sizzling on the stove. The juice made little hissing sounds as it came up through the crust. Oh, Finn, what do you want? Please tell me and let me get back, before that pie is gone.”
Finn ran his fingers across her cheek. “I feel very bad about this, Letitia, don't make me feel any worse. I'm glad we didn't eat that fish. I am not at all sure it wasn't spoiled. I don't think even if you're dead, you're supposed to look like that.”
Letitia yawned and stretched. “Food that looks bad begins to look good when your tummy starts making funny sounds. Did you ever think of that?”
“I'm hungry too, you know.”
“I'm sure you are, Finn. Good night again.”
Letitia leaned over, gave him a peck on the cheek, plopped down and faced the other way.
“I've been thinking,” Finn said, “about the future and the past. This vacation, though it hasn't been a great deal of fun so far, has brought some ideas to mind, things sort of rattling about in my head.
“You've brought a lot into my life, Letitia. I'm a different man than I was before. I was just drifting in my craft, doing some of this, some of that. I made lizards that blow on the fire, lizards you could put the garbage in. A skinny lizard to poke in your musket and clean the barrel out. Captain what's-his-name, you remember him, the Balloon Grenadiers. He had a thing for you, which doesn't much matter, since he's quite dead now.
“Anyway, he gave me the idea for that. Sold a lot of them, too. I can likely sell more, since the war shows very little sign of slowing down.
“That's off the subject, though, or maybe not. It wasn't very easy selling lizards when I first thought them up. Folks would say, ‘What on earth is that, what's it for?’ I really didn't get off the ground until the bug-snatcher came along. Now that caught on very quickly. That tongue leaping out all the time seemed to frighten little children, but they soon got over that. People didn't like to empty it, of course, and I can't blame them, I suppose.
“By the way, that's where I got the idea for the dirt-sucker, dear. That went quite well. After that, things went downhill awhile with Lizards-for-the-Blind. One can't be right all the time, and no one was badly hurt.
“All this, Letitia, is what got me thinking. You simply can't stand still, you've got to try-even if something goes
