Chapter 31

Epilogue

Seasons came and went and Nick and Octavia’s first winter in the mountains was a real learning experience, and as their family grew, Nana’s cottage grew with it. Now and then, Nick would tell Octavia that she was expecting, and she wouldn’t believe him until the cottage expanded. It grew a new room, or a bigger kitchen, possibly add a nursery, something it always did. In fact, that’s how the Stein kids knew they were getting a new baby brother or baby sister. Maybe a room would be added, maybe more storage, but the house knew what the family needed.

“Did the cottage expand for you also?” Nick asked Nana Partridge one cold autumn evening.

“Yes it did,” smiled Nana, who famously had nine children. “However, it retracts back into itself as the children leave ... it’s always sad to lose a room,” the ghost sniffed. “It was a one room cottage for many years after I died, but it started expanding one day and I knew you were coming.”

The bookstore became a center for book learning and book writing and occasionally Nick’s refuge from family, pregnant farm girls, and sick farm animals. (But they always knew where to find him.) Such is the life of a country witch. But a country witch has their limits, they can only heal so much, there is no cure for old age and Gaspode had a terminal case. He helped the Stein kids grow as much as he could, but in the end, even a wonder dog meets his end. His last months were spent being cared for by the children of the first child he ever loved. He had a big pillow in front of a fire and all the blankets he could want. The children brought him water and all the snacks and treats an ailing dog could want, including his favorite, an occasional cat nugget from the litter box.

Nick would sit with Gaspode every chance he could, and he read Gaspode the stories of the discworld that he got from friends, friends of friends, and Gaspode himself. “I’m going to sell them someday and you and I are going to be famous.”

“Right,” groaned Gaspode after hearing the story of the very first tourist on the discworld. “Who is going to believe in a wizard named Rincewind?”

“It could happen,” insisted Nick.

When Death came for Gaspode, the wonder dog was surrounded by the entire family, all five children, Nick and Octavia. They sat around Gaspode’s bed as he panted, not saying goodbye, but saying thank you. Each child recited their favorite Gaspode story and when they were finished, a figure in black shrouds carrying a scythe appeared behind the twins, Llywellyn and Llewela. If they saw Death, they didn’t mention it, but Marlon, the oldest and Hollie, his sister, saw death and gasped.

“Please,” begged Nick, “he’s in so much pain and I can’t help him.”

“SOMETIMES I AM WELCOME,” said Death as the image of Gaspode, young and sassy, jumped around death’s ankles.

“He’s a brilliant companion if you need a friend,” said Octavia as she held a weeping Hollie.

“I CAN SEE THAT,” chuckled Death as he sliced the line of octarine light between Gaspode and his spent body. “COME ON BOY, LET’S GO ... WALKIES!”

As they walked beyond the veil, Death and his dog, the grieving family, could hear Gaspode saying, “Oh boy, walkies! Did I ever tell you about the time that I went for walkies through the University kitchen?”

With the loss of his best friend in the world, Nick locked himself into the bookstore and wrote down his feelings about it until his heart stopped aching. He let Octavia read it, then he locked the manuscript away and never looked at it again. Nick was still sad, but he was glad to get the pain off his chest.

One mountain winter night where the wind howled, and the snow fell a foot an hour and the children gathered around mom and dad for entertainment and warmth, Nick turned to Octavia with an important question. She was nursing their youngest child, a wiry-haired little girl who reacted to the name Gaspode with her first fart. Nick was just kidding when he offered Gaspode as a possible name, and the moment he did, she released a little beep of methane and cooed happily. To the world, her name was Gwendolyn, but to her family, Gaspode was her name.

They had all the children in bed with them, the twins, Llywellyn (Lou) and Llewela (Loo Loo), Marlon their oldest, Hollie, then next in line, Dhani the runt of the litter, and now their baby sister Gaspode. The only members of the family missing were Grandma Jutta and Grandma Catrin. They were downstairs sitting in front of the fire, knitting.

“Honey?” asked Nick as he read a picture book to Hollie and Llewela.

“Yes?”

“This is a wizard question, so you’re best for it ... whenever we have a child, the house grows to provide room for the additions to our family...”

“Yes?” asked Octavia. She was getting upset with Gwendolyn. She wasn’t nursing, she was just playing, and Octavia has Nick to do that for her. “So, what is your question?”

“If the entire house can expand around this family, why can’t we get the bed to do that too?”

“Ha-ha!” laughed Llywellyn from somewhere under the quilt as he tickled Dhani. Nick was mostly kidding. He loved every moment of life with his family, yes he misses Gaspode, but Gula is still with them, she and her six daughters. (now and then a round rock would turn up and it would sit on a shelf or in a forgotten box until Octavia had a child and the rock would crack open and there would be a tiny gargoyle)

Octavia looked at Nick and said, “Would you mind greatly if I took your memoirs about Gaspode to a publisher?”

It wasn’t a bad idea; money was a bit tight and Hogswatch Night is only a month away. “Who is going to publish it? And why? Only the ultra-rich are going to read it, they’re the only ones with the money for a book about a dog.” Printing on the discworld is still incredibly expensive and only the richest have the money and time for leisure reading.

“Maybe here but not on a...” and she mouthed, “Round World.”