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I CERTAINLY HAD a lot to think about the next couple of days For so bored, I’d stored enough up to last tasia, alone, were food for exa to meet one vampire, now I’d met more than I cared to know

A lot ofarea had been called in to the police station to answer a few questions about Dawn Green and her habits E around the bar on his off-hours, never drinkingthat took place around hial activity, no onethere

He always seean to play a silent ga so He didn’t seem to understand how indecent that was The provocation was the point, not the insult He just wanted ure out why

Then, uess it was a Diet Coke, he picturedwithto expect soetting angry and into the realm of tears It re I’d taken when I was in grade school

Andy had looked up with an expectant face, and when he saw tears an as ran across his face in quick succession: triu shaht past the bar and out the back door

"What’s the ht onto explain, and pulled an aging tissue out ofugly things to you?" Sarier

"He’s been thinking theet a rise out of me He knows"

"Son of a bitch," Sam said, which almost shocked me back to nor, it see tio on back in," I said, embarrassed at my orks "I’ll be okay in just a minute"

I heard the back door of the bar open and shut I figured Sam had taken ize, Sookie"

"That’s Miss Stackhouse to you, Andy Bellefleur," I said "It see who killed Maudette and Dawn instead of playing nasty ames with me"

I turned around and looked at the policeht he was sincere in his shaer

"Bellefleur, sit in someone else’s area if you come back," he said, but his voice held a lot of suppressed violence

Andy looked at Sam He ice as thick in the body, taller by two inches But I would have put my money on Sam at that moe either, if only fro lot to his car The sun glinted on the blond highlights in his brown hair

"Sookie, I’m sorry," Sam said

"Not your fault"

"Do you want to take some time off? We’re not so busy today"

"Nope I’ll finish s, but I wouldn’t feel good about leaving It was Arlene’s day off

We went back into the bar, and though several people looked at us curiously as we entered, no one asked us what had happened There was only one couple sitting in lasses full of liquid, so they wouldn’t be needing ainst the workspace besideto speak to the Descendants of the Glorious Dead tonight?"

"According to ?"

"I hadn’t planned on it" I didn’t want to see Bill until he called me andelse then, but later in the afternoon, as I was retrieving my purse from his office, he came in and fiddled with some papers on his desk I’d pulled out le out of my ponytail From the way Sam dithered around, it seemed apparent that he wanted to talk to me, and I felt a wave of exasperation at the indirection men seemed to take

Like Andy Bellefleur He could just have asked ames with me

Like Bill He could just have stated his intentions, instead of this strange hot-cold thing

"So?" I said, aze

"I wondered if you’d like to go to the Descendantswith asted My brush stopped in h my mind, the feel of his hand when I’d held it in front of Dawn Green’s duplex, the wall I’dyour boss

"Sure," I said, after a notable pause

He seemed to exhale "Good Then I’ll pick you up at your house at seven-twenty or so Thestarts at seven-thirty"

"Okay I’ll see you then"

Afraid I’d do sorabbed my purse and strode out to roan at ot home Gran already had supper on the table since she had to leave early to carry refresh, which was held at the Co

"Wonder if he could have come if we’d had it in the fellowship hall of Good Faith Baptist?" Gran said out of the blue But I didn’t have a probleht

"Oh, I think so," I said "I think that idea about vaious items isn’t true But I haven’t asked hi up in there," Gran went on

"I’ll be at thewith Sam Merlotte"

"Your boss, Sam?" Gran was very surprised

"Yes,while she put the plates on the table I was trying to think of what to hile we ate our sandwiches and fruit salad Gran was excited about thehim to her friends, and now she was in outer space somewhere (probably around Venus) since I actually had a date With a huuess I’ll get ho’s over" There weren’t that many places to have coffee in Bon Temps And those restaurants weren’t exactly places you’d want to linger

"Okay, honey You just take your time" Gran was already dressed, and after supper I helped her load up the cookie trays and the big coffee urn she’d bought for just such events Gran had pulled her car around to the back door, which saved us a lot of steps She was happy as she could be and fussed and chattered the whole tiht

I shed ot into the shower lickety-split While I soaped up, I tried to think of what to wear Nothing black and white, that was for sure; I had gotten pretty sick of the Merlotte’s waitress colors I shaved ain, didn’t have tiht before I flung open my closet and stared Sam had seen the white flowered dress The denih for Gran’s friends Finally I yanked out some khaki slacks and a bronze silk blouse with short sleeves I had brown leather sandals and a brown leather belt that would look good I hung a chain around s, and I was ready As if he’d ti the doorbell

There was a moment of aardness as I opened the door

"You’re welcome to come in, but I think we just have time - "

"I’d like to sit and visit, but I think we just have tihed

I locked the door and pulled it to, and Salad I’d worn pants, as I pictured trying to get up in the high cab in one of my shorter skirts

"Need a boost?" he asked hopefully

"I think I got it," I said, trying not to s, which was in the older part of Bon Temps; the part that predated the War The structure was not antebellu on that site that had gotten destroyed during the War, though no one seemed to have a record of what it had been

The Descendants of the Glorious Dead were a ile members, and some not quite so old and very lively ednificant glances at randreeter that night, and he stood at the door shaking hands and having a little conversation with everyone who entered

"Miss Sookie, you look prettier every day," Mr Norris said "And Sae! Sookie, is it true this vampire is a friend of yours?"

"Yes, sir"

"Can you say for sure that we’re all safe?"

"Yes, I’? Entity? If you like the living dead, he’s pretty neat?

"If you say so," Mr Norris said dubiously "Inwas just a fairy tale"

"Oh, Mr Norris, it’s still your time," I said with the cheerful shed and motioned us on in, which as expected of him Sam took my hand and sort of steered me to the next to last row of rand to start, and the roo for Bon Temps But Bill wasn’t there

Just then the president of Descendants, a massive, solid woman by the na! Good evening!" she boouest of honor has just called to say he’s having car trouble and will be a fewwhile we’re waiting for hih all the boring stuff, Sa besidecrossed over the left at the ankle I was being especially careful to keep , and I was a little deflated when Sahtly to ht I was," I whispered back

"I don’t think you kno"

I raised s to say to Mr Merlotte after the

Just then Bill came in, and there was a moment of sheer silence as those who hadn’t seen him before adjusted to his presence If you’ve never been in the co you really have to get used to Under the flourescent lighting, Bill really lookedin Merlotte’s, or the equally di in his own houy His pallor was very marked, of course, and the deep pools of his eyes looked darker and colder He earing a lightweightto bet that had been Gran’s advice He looked great The dominant line of the arch of his eyebrow, the curve of his bold nose, the chiseled lips, the white hands with their long fingers and carefully trie with the president, and she was charmed out of her support hose by Bill’s close-lipped slamor over the whole room, or if these people were just predisposed to be interested, but the whole group hushed expectantly

Then Bill saw aveno se of the deep pool of his silence

Mrs Fortenberry introduced Bill, but I don’t remember what she said or how she skirted the fact that Bill was a different kind of creature

Then Bill began speaking He had notes, I saith some surprise Beside me, Sam leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Bill’s face

" we didn’t have any blankets and very little food," Bill was saying calmly "There were many deserters"

That was not a favorite fact of the Descendants, but a few of thereement This account must match what they’d learned in their studies

An ancient man in the first row raised his hand

"Sir, did you by chance know randfather, Tolliver Humphries?"

"Yes," Bill said, after a moment His face was unreadable "Tolliver wasso tragic in his voice that I had to close my eyes

"What was he like?" quavered the old man

"Well, he was foolhardy, which led to his death," said Bill with a wry smile "He was brave He never made a cent in his life that he didn’t waste"

"How did he die? Were you there?"

"Yes, I was there," said Bill wearily "I saw hiet shot by a Northern sniper in the woods about twenty miles from here He was slow because he was starved We all were About the , Tolliver saw a boy in our troop get shot as he lay in poor cover in the middle of a field The boy was not dead, but painfully wounded But he could call to us, and he did, allHe called to us to help him He kneould die if sorown so silent you could hear a pin drop

"He screamed and he moaned I almost shot him myself, to shut him up, because I knew to venture out to rescue hi myself to kill him That would be murder, not war, I told myself But later I wished I had shot him, for Tolliver was less able than I to withstand the boy’s pleading After two hours of it, he told ued with him But Tolliver toldas we lay in the woods

"Though I told Tolliver that God did not wish him to waste his life foolishly - that he had a wife and children praying for his safe return at home - Tolliver asked me to divert the enemy while he attempted the boy’s rescue He ran out into the field like it was a spring day and he ell rested And he got as far as the wounded boy But then a shot rang out, and Tolliver fell dead And, after a tiain"

"What happened to him?" asked Mrs Fortenberry, her voice as quiet as she could e to make it

"He lived," Bill said, and there was tone to his voice that sent shivers down my spine "He survived the day, and ere able to retrieve hiain as Bill spoke, and for the old man in the front row there was a memory to cherish, a memory that said much about his ancestor’s character

I don’t think anyone who’d coht was prepared for the i about the Civil War from a survivor They were enthralled; they were shattered

When Bill had answered the last question, there was thunderous applause, or at least it was as thunderous as forty people could ed to put his hands together

Everyone wanted to have a personal ith Bill afterward except uest speaker was surrounded by Descendants, Sam and I sneaked out to Sam’s pickup We went to the Crawdad Diner, a real dive that happened to have very good food I wasn’t hungry, but Sa," Sam said cautiously

"Bill’s speech? Yes," I said, just as cautiously

"Do you have feelings for him?"

After all the indirection, Saate

"Yes," I said

"Sookie," Sam said, "You have no future with him"

"On the other hand, he’s been around a while I expect he’ll be around for a another few hundred years"

"You never knohat’s going to happen to a vaue with that But, as I pointed out to Sa to happen to led back and forth like this for too long Finally, exasperated, I said, "What’s it to you, Saht blue eyeselse so turn"

I looked at hiether, the corner ofmy face

"I’ve always liked you"

"So much that you had to wait till someone else showed an interest, before you mentioned it toover in hishe wanted to say, but hadn’t the resolution

Whatever it was, he couldn’t coested It would be hard to turn the conversation back to neutral ground, I figured I o hoe of speaking, and then he’d shake his head and keep silent I was so aggravated I wanted to swat hiht was on, but the rest of the house was dark I didn’t see her car, so I figured she’d parked in back to unload the leftovers right into the kitchen The porch light was on for me

Sam walked around and opened the pickup door, and I stepped down But in the shadow,board, and I just sort of turipped my arms to steady me, then they just slid aroundto be a little good-night peck, but his ered It was really more than pleasant, but suddenly ed He was iently slid his hands downhands with ood time," I said, softly I didn’t want to wake Gran, and I didn’t want to sound bouncy

"I did, too Again sometime?"

"We’ll see," I said I really didn’t kno I felt about Sam

I waited to hear his truck turn around before I switched off the porch light and went into the house I was unbuttoningrong

I stopped in thelooked all right, didn’t it?

Yes Everything was in its proper place

It was the smell

It was a sort of penny smell

A coppery smell, sharp and salty

The smell of blood

It was down here with uest bedrooms sat in neat solitude

"Gran?" I called I hated the quavering in o to the door of her roohts as I went through the house

My room was just as I’d left it