Sixty-One Nails Part 16

"Well, if she calls by, I wondered if you'd let her know I was looking for her?"

"I will if I see her."

"Thanks."

"But I won't see her."

"Why not?"

"Not unless she wants to be seen," she told me, taking another drag.

I hesitated. Did that mean I was wasting my time trying to find her?

"Is there anywhere in particular that I could go... where I might find her? You've known her for some time, right?"

"I've known her for a fair while, but we're not exactly close."

"I only met her yesterday. She rescued me."

"She has a habit of doing that. That's how I first met her. I thought I was going mad. I'd put one of my pieces down and the next minute it'd be gone. The little sods were cleaning me out, taking all my best work. I couldn't afford to replace them, not on my pension."

"Your pension? Did you retire early?" She didn't look much older than me, and certainly not old enough to be retired.

She laughed. "No, I didn't retire early. I retired at sixty-four and bought the pitch for the stall then. I needed something that would generate an income and I had a little money put aside for a rainy day. I'd been making jewellery as a hobby for a long time and it was a good way of combining what I liked doing with making a living."

"I thought Blackbird said you two had known each other for a long time?" If she'd met Blackbird after she had retired then it can't have been that long ago, could it?

"Not that long really, at least in her terms. That was in seventy-two."

"Seventy-two? But that would mean you were... No way!"

"I can show you my pension card if you like." She smiled, but it was an ironic smile. "What did you think? I've been around a while. Blackbird says my Fey genes are keeping me young and I suppose she would know. It might explain a few other things too. "

"What sort of things?"

"Little things. I smoke too much, drink too much, stay up too late and do far too many things that are bad for me, but I've never had a day sick since my teens. These things should be the death of me." She held up the cigarette and took a last puff before dropping it to the floor and grinding it out with the toe of her embroidered slipper.

"It sounds like you have it made," I told her. "I mean, it's what every woman wants, isn't it, to stay young looking forever?"

"It has its drawbacks."

"Like what?"

"For one thing, it gets difficult when I go to collect my pension. I don't look like I'm about to get a telegram from the Queen congratulating me on my centenary, do I?"

"Does the Queen still send telegrams like that?"

"I don't know. I guess in a year or two I shall find out, shan't I?" she grinned.

"So how do you get your pension?"

"Usually I have to sign to say I'm my own daughter and I'm collecting it for my mother who's too old and frail to come and get it for herself, which is ironic, isn't it? "

"Why is that ironic?"

"Because I don't have a daughter, or any other children." The sudden bitterness in her voice was palpable. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise." I hadn't meant to pry into personal matters.

"You may live a long time, Rabbit, but you had better get used to the idea that you'll never be a father. "

"I'm already a father."

It just came out in response to her statement but I realised as soon as I said it that I probably shouldn't have mentioned it. It was just that I had felt the need to shake off Megan's dark prediction before it turned into a foretelling. I cautioned myself to be more careful in future about who I told about my daughter. Megan, though, was startled. "You are?"

"I have a daughter," I admitted, finding it too late to retract the statement.

"A daughter?" she muttered to herself, momentarily lost in thought. "Are you sure she's yours?" She looked up suddenly as if she'd just realised what she'd said.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that... it's just it's very unusual. A daughter you say? And the mother is normal - human, I mean?"

"I think so. At least she's never shown any sign of being anything other than completely normal." Then again, until yesterday neither had I.

"How old is she?"

"A little younger than me, why?"

"No, silly. How old is your daughter?"

"Fourteen." There was no point in being coy about it now. Besides, she appeared fascinated, as if I had just done something truly magical.

"Fourteen. Nearly of an age, then. Has she shown any sign of being gifted?"

"She's quite good at maths and science and she has a good eye for art."

"No. I meant signs of being Fey. Any strangeness about her, shifts in appearance, odd affinities? "

"I don't think so, not that her mother has mentioned."

"You'll know if it happens. For her sake I hope she takes after her mother, no offence meant. I hope she has a normal life and has a bevy of beautiful babies. I hope her children grow up while she grows old and she turns into a wrinkled grandma with grandchildren to care for and great-grandchildren to come."

It sounded like a mixed blessing, but Megan clearly thought she was wishing the best for my daughter. Her words also brought to mind the conversation I'd had with Kareesh the day before, when we'd been bargaining. She'd offered to tell me whether I would be a grandfather and I had thought that what she was offering to me was the chance to know whether my daughter would survive to become a mother. Perhaps, though, it had been more than that. Perhaps the trade I had refused was to discover whether my daughter could become a mother. Either way, I had chosen to receive the vision instead.

"Look," I said. "I'd better go. If you see Blackbird, could you tell her I was looking for her?"

Megan stood up and tucked her cigarette tin into her bag. "Stick around and she'll find you," she said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Trust me. I know."