Chapter 21

I woke up, and I hurt all over. Some light was coming from around the blinds. When I tried to move, it hurt worse. I was thirsty and starving. At least my stomach thought so. I had to pee.

I'm dying, I thought.

So am I, thought Ursus.

This is as sore as I've been since I broke my toe, thought Arthur. And that was only in one place.

We need to get up, thought Ursus.

It feels like every muscle in our body is pulled.

We still need to get up. Try again.

I rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. I bit off a scream. I don't think this is an improvement.

No, no it's not.

You're supposed to be the wise one. Why did you let me do this to myself?

One, I could feel how badly you wanted the money. Two, it has been a long time since I've made a mistake of this kind. Three, my old body had enhancements that would have protected me from this.

I grabbed the bed frame and pulled myself into a sitting position, groaning as I did so. Ursus took control of our body and massaged our arms and legs for several minutes. He then used the bed to pull us to our feet. Slowly, I made my way into the hall and then the bathroom. I relieved myself, washed my hands, and took a drink from the bathroom faucet.

When I made it to the kitchen, Mom was at the table drinking coffee. "You overdid it yesterday, I see."

"I hurt really bad."

When she saw that I wasn't exaggerating, she said, "Go sit in the soft chair in the family room, and I'll bring you some aspirin."

I did as I was told with a whimper, and Mom brought me two aspirin and a tall glass of milk. I could see through the sliding glass door that a lot of snow had fallen after we called it quits the night before. None of the other kids in the family were up yet. "Did Dad make it to work?"

"Yes, he managed to get his car out, although he would have walked in if he had to. You know how seriously he takes his business."

"It's four miles."

"You and your sister walked considerably farther than that yesterday. Would you like some poached eggs on toast?"

"Yes, please." Mom brought me a tray. As I was eating, Mary came limping out. She looked like I felt.

"Mommy, everything hurts."

"Go sit in the family room with your brother." Mary soon was getting the same treatment I was.

"What possessed you kids to do this to yourselves?"

"We really wanted the money," Mary replied. "I guess."

"Do a few pounds mean that much to you?"

"I like having money of my own," Mary said. "I hate having to beg whenever I want something."

"Is that how asking your dad and I for something feels to you?"

Mary nodded her head.

I knew that there was still plenty of cleaning up to do outside and, therefore, lots of money to be made, but it wasn't going to be done and made by me. After I finished my eggs, I said, "Can I have some cereal, too, please?"

"You must have worked up quite an appetite."

"It sure feels that way." I munched down a big bowl of cornflakes and then slowly got up to take my dishes to the sink.

Mom took the tray when I was about half way there. "What are your plans for today?"

"I think the aspirins are kicking in, and I feel a little better. I think some non-strenuous movement might work out some of the pain."

"Probably, as long as you don't overdue it."

"I thought I'd do some light woodworking. I have an idea for a wooden medallion."

"'Wooden medallion, ' that sounds like it's contradictory."

"What else would you call a wooden disk that's meant to be worn around your neck?"

"Eliphino."

I eased my way to my room to put on some old clothes and limped to the basement. Mom said, "Be careful," as I descended.

"I won't be doing anything that can cut off a hand. Maybe a finger."

"Smartass."

I went into Dad's workroom. The scrap box should have what I needed. Slowly squatting down, I dug out a chunk of one-by-two lumber. I used a compass to layout a circle and a height gauge to scribe a line a half-inch high around the edge.

I wasn't allowed to use any of the power saws other than a little jigsaw, but it was good enough for what I was doing. I split the chunk of scrap in roughly half through its thickness so that my work piece was now somewhat less than a half-inch thick. I put it on the belt sander until the saw-cut side was again flat, being careful not to sand it wedge shaped.

I went back to the jigsaw and cut out the circle, leaving a little bit of stock all around the edge, then I clamped the disk in the wooden-jawed vise and used a rasp to work my way down to the line.

Take your time, thought Ursus.

Aren't I?

I wasn't so patient when I was your age.

With you in my head, I'm pretty sure I'm not my age anymore.

True. It would have been better to make this out of wood we collected from nature ourselves. Preferably dead, dry wood still on the tree, so that it was neither green nor rotten.

There is almost certainly wood like that to be found in some of the vacant lots around here, I thought, but I'm in no condition to go tromping through deep snow today.

I agree. This will serve as proof of concept, anyway.

Once I had the disk filed circular, I gently rounded the corners and then sanded it all over with two grits of sandpaper. I searched until I found Dad's smallest gouge and took it and the disk over to the basement table. I had some old newspapers for my vocabulary word search, and I spread one of them out several pages thick for a working surface. I gratefully got off my aching legs.

Mary was practicing at the chord organ. "Am I going to bother you?"

"Not at all."

"Are you doing magic stuff?"

"Yes, this is going to be an amulet."

"Cool. What will it do?"

Ursus took over our tongue. "I'm not entirely sure. This is an experiment. Anyway, five- and six-pointed stars are common magical symbols," all over the multiverse, he added for my benefit and included a wash of memories. "They have scads of symbolic interpretations. I'm hoping that making them into an amulet will allow me to attract manna easier and maybe hold more of it. Maybe it will increase the efficiency of my spells. Heck, maybe it will bring good luck."

"Will you make me one?"

"When you learn how to hold manna, you should make your own. Magical tools are more efficient and powerful if you make them yourself."

"Oh, OK." Mary went back to the organ.

Working slowly and carefully, I laid out in pencil a pentagram within a circle on one side of the disk and a hexagram within a circle on the other side. Working even more slowly and carefully, using only hand pressure and taking shallow cuts, I dug out the lines with the tiny gouge. Finally, I bent little pieces of sandpaper in half and gave the lines a gentle sanding.

It was almost noon when I finished, and I had got in about ten minutes of guitar practice when Mom called Mary and me for lunch. The three youngest kids were already at the table eating macaroni and cheese with poppy-seed rolls. I brought the amulet with me because I was sure Mom would want to see what I had been working on all morning.

"It's kind of pretty. Is it a present for Kirsten?"

"No, it's for me." Of course, everyone wanted to see it, and it got passed around.

"Are you getting Kirsten a Christmas present? You tell me she still considers you her boyfriend. She'll have one for you."