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ets of a ripstop windbreaker. Sandy could see the outlines of
fingers fumbling nervously with whatever nameless horror of
used Kleenex, furred candies, and free lint those pockets might
contain.
"Come on in, Cass." If her mind had turned his boyish
gift of autumn leaves to spring lilacs, he wasn't to blame.
"You're not interrupting anything. It'll be Ellie's bedtime soon,
and Davina and I were just about to go to a party."
"A party?" His eyes lit up, but only in the normally
acceptable way. "On a Wednesday night? Sounds like fun.
Gee, I wish I had your connections. I mean " He turned red
and mauled the contents of his pockets with renewed diligence
to cover his embarrassment.
Sandy conducted him into the living room. In the dining
room Ellie was leaning across the table to get a look at the
visitor. Lionel pulled her back by the waistband of her overalls.
48 Esther M. Friesner
He spared the boy a friendly nod. Davina was out of sight,
taking dishes into the kitchen in relays.
"Don't envy us, Cass. It's a Preserv-a-Pak party. You
just ask your mother about it sometime. I'll bet she's too sman
to go."
"I don't think she's ever been asked. But I doubt she'c
go if she were. She doesn't go out at night at all. She doesn'i
Want to leave Jeffy alone, not even with me."
"Why not? You seem like a competent young man."
Sandy didn't catch the flicker of irritation that momen-
tarily changed Cass's blandly pleasant expression.
"Jeffy has bad nightmares. When he does, he just wants
Mother. Once when he was little he had one at nap time while
she was out shopping. He screamed nonstop for an hour until
she came home. Now they just happen at night,"
"I see."
Cass looked thoughtful. "I've heard about Preserv-a-Pak.
It's these plastic dishes that're airtight and don't leak, right?
They keep things sealed fresh?"
Sandy nodded. She'd been introduced to the wonders of
Preserv-a-Pak technology in college when the smaller-sized
containers were the status stash-keepers among her friends.
"You know, my mother could use some stuff like that,
and I hear you can only order it at the parties. Mrs. Walters
... do you think your friends would mind if I came along with
you you know, just tagged along and ordered some pieces
for Mother? As a surprise."
Lionel and Davina came into the living room as Sandy
began her detailed explication of why it was unthinkable for
Cass to attend a Preserv-a-Pak party.
"Now ladies . . . and gentleman," the Preserv-a-Pak rep
said with an unbecomingly coy twinkle in her eye. "Please
feel free to pass our new Leafresh lettuce bowl around. It comes
in your choice of colors, so it'll match your other Preserv-a-
Pak containers whether you're collecting our Bolds or our
Shys."
Peggy Seymour was the first to hold the pink plastic globe
with its cleverly embossed SealSup lid. She oohed and ahhed
at length over it, demanding whether the other guests had ever
seen anything half so wonderful this side of heaven. As the
Preserv-a-Pak party hostess, it was incumbent upon her to
stroke the fires of acquisitiveness in her guests. She might oth-
erwise not receive her free set of SnakSnips oversized plastic
ELF DEFENSE 49
paper clips used for keeping opened potato chip bags fresh-
fteshfresh. This largess would be all Peggy's if the party's total
orders topped a hundred dollars. She would make sure this
happened or know the reason why.
When the sacred lettuce keeper reached Sandy, she passed
it on to Cass so quickly that Peggy took note. It was always
dangerous when Peggy noticed anything. It could mean another
petition.
"Do you already have a lettuce keeper, Sandra?"
"Yes. I call it the refrigerator."
Peggy clucked. "You know that's not enough. Greens
go bad before you can imagine. / like to care about the fresh-
ness of everything my family eats."
Sandy refrained from pointing out that Peggy Seymour's
family consisted in toto of Kwai-Chang Caine, the most pissant
Shih Tzu ever to curse Godwin's Comers. Even now she could
hear the beast's dyspeptic yaps coming from the bathroom.
Kwai-Chang Caine loved to bite ankles, but would take the
fleshier, more satisfying taste of calf when he could get it.
Peggy always accused the victim of provoking her precious
pet, and Peggy was a vocal force with which to reckon. As the
party continued and coffee was served there would be more
than one lady torn between obtaining relief and facing down
the midget Hound of the Baskervilles.
"Mrs. Walters, you ought to have another look at this."
Cass passed the bowl back to Sandy. "It's something special.
It really is."
Sandy gave Cass a quizzical look. Exceeding interest in
plastic storage ware was not normal in a person of his age and
sex. She wasn't sure it was normal for anyone, except those
looking to make a buck off it. Bemused, she accepted the dish.
"Open it," Cass said. "Look inside."
She did.
Rubies redder than the blood of dragons threw back the
light, made the bowl glow a deeper rose. Sandy's neck tingled.
Carefully she reached into the lettuce keeper and poked one of
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