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Sue was heading into the New York Public Library at
the corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street when she
saw Sophie. She had been lost in her own thoughts, looking
forward to a quiet day of work. The previous evening
had been a trial. After the debacle in the office she
had been on a date, her first for six months. She had
agreed, a little reluctantly, to go for dinner with
the brother of a college friend. He took her to a cheap
pizza restaurant, drank one beer upon the next, talked
incessantly about himself, and hinted at regular intervals
that good relationships needed to have a strong physical
element.
By the fifth beer she was fairly certain that he could
no longer see her so she vanished right in front of
his eyes and went home. She had already eaten her pizza
so she took the rest of his. She wondered how long he
kept talking before he noticed he was alone.
Finding Sophie waiting for her did nothing to improve
her spirits. The look on Sue's face prompted Sophie
to hold up her hands at shoulder level, palms forward.
"Peace. I came to apologize."
"It's too damn late for that. Go away."
"Well, it isn't too late to make amends."
"I don't want any amends. I want you to go away."
It would have been easy for Sophie to freeze Sue to
the spot but she didn't want to show more of her power
than she had to. Better to use persuasion. Sophie held
out her hand. She held a small ceramic cup that looked
very old. "It's Mexican."
Sue looked at it for a long time before she reached
out a trembling hand to take it. "Mexican?"
"I know you're looking for the artifacts. Bill
thought you might like one."
"This is for me?"
"A peace offering. We're sorry if we called at
a bad time. We had no idea the old man was mortal. Bill
just wanted to make an impression."
"He did!" Sue gave a slight smile. She was
still deeply distrustful but she sensed that the gift
was intended to warm the atmosphere. Only by playing
along would she find out more.
"We wondered if you'd like to have lunch with
us. We're in the Dakota."
"Where did you get this?"
The question seemed to confuse Sophie. "From the
museum," she answered. "Would you like to
see the rest?"
"You mean you stole it?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Again Sophie frowned in puzzlement. She shrugged. "We
liked it."
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