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CRY HAVOC, AND LET SLIP THE GOGS OF WAR!

Watching Madeline Alby die had shaken Charlie It wasn’t her death so much, it was the life he’d seen in her ht: If you have to stare Death in the eye to be able to take the life out of your moments, then who better to do it than the man who shaves Death’s face?

"Cheese wasn’t in the book," Charlie said to Sophie as he walked her out of the shop in her new runner’s stroller - which looked like soe and ended up with a vehicle you could use to take a day trip to Thunderdo, easy to push, and kept Sophie safely wrapped in an aluminum frame Because of the cheese, he didn’t make her wear her helmet He wanted her to be able to look around, see the world around her, and be in it It atching Madeline Alby eat cheese with every ounce of her being, like it was the first and best time, that made him realize that he had never really tasted cheese, or crackers, or life And he didn’t want his daughter to live that way He’d ht before, the bedroom that Rachel had decorated for her with clouds painted on the ceiling and a happy balloon carrying a happy bunch of animal friends across the sky in its basket He hadn’t slept well, and had gotten up five tiht to check on her, only to find her sleeping peacefully, but he could lose a little sleep if Sophie could go through life without his fears and lilorious cheese of life

They strolled through North Beach He stopped and bought a coffee for hiiant peanut-butter cookie, and a crowd of pigeons followed the on the river of crumbs that flowed from Sophie’s stroller The World Cup soccer cha on televisions in bars and caf��s, and people spilled out onto the sidewalks and out into the street, watching the ga out waves of elation and dejection in the co this Italian-Ahborhood from all around the world Sophie cheered with the soccer fans and shrieked with joy because they were happy When the croas disappointed - a kick blocked, a play foiled - Sophie was distressed, and would look to her daddy to fix it and ain And Daddy did, because a few seconds later, they were all cheering again A tall Ger "Goooooooooooooooooooooal!" the way the announcer did, practicing with her until she got the full five-second sustain, and she was still practicing three blocks ahen Charlie had to shrug at confused onlookers as if to say, The kid’s a soccer fan, what can you do?

As naptihborhood and headed up through Washington Square Park, where people were reading and lounging in the shade, a guy played guitar and sang Dylan songs for change, thite Rasta boys kicked a Hacky Sack around, and people were generally settling in for a pleasant and windless sue near busy Colu a wild McMuffin wrapper, it appeared, and he pointed it out to Sophie

"Look, Sophie, kitty" Charlie felt bad about the deo to the pet shop and get a new friend for Sophie

Sophie screalee and pointed to the little cat

"Can you say ’kitty’?" Charlie said

Sophie pointed, and gave a drooly grin

"Would you like a kitty? Can you say ’kitty,’ Sophie?"

Sophie pointed to the cat "Kitty," she said

The little cat dropped on the spot, dead

Fresh Music," Minty Fresh answered the phone, his voice a bass sax sketch of cool jazz

"What the fuck is this? You didn’t say anything about this? The book didn’t say anything about this? What the fuck is going on?"

"You’ll be wanting the library or a church," Minty said "This is a record store, we don’t answer general questions"

"This is Charlie Asher What the fuck did you do? What have you done to irl?"

Minty frowned and ran his hand over his scalp He’d forgotten to shave this"Charlie, you can’t callhas happened to your little girl, but I promise you that I - "

"She pointed at a kitten and said ’kitty’ and it fell over, stone dead"

"Well, that is an unfortunate coincidence, Charlie, but kittens do have a pretty high uy feeding the pigeons and said ’kitty’ and he dropped over dead, too"

Minty Fresh was glad that there was no one in the store right then to see the look on his face, because he was sure that the full i his appearance of unflappable chill "That child has a speech disorder, Charlie You should have her looked at"

"A speech disorder! A speech disorder! A cute lisp is a speech disorder My daughter kills people with the word kitty I had to keep my hand over her mouth all the way hoht I was one of those people who beats their kid in department stores"

"Don’t be ridiculous, Charlie, people love the parents who beat their kids in department stores It’s the ones who just let their kids wreak havoc that everybody hates"

"Can we stay on point, Fresh, please? What do you know about this? What have you figured out in all your years as a Death Merchant?"

Minty Fresh sat down on the stool behind the counter and stared into the eyes of the cardboard cutout of Cher, hoping to find answers there But the bitch was holding out "Charlie, I got nothin’ The kid was in the room when you saw me, and you sahat it did to you Who knohat it did to her I told you I thought you were in a different league than the rest of us, well,else, too I’ve never heard of a Death Merchant who could just ’kitty’ someone to death, or cause anyone to die outside of nor her use other words? Like puppy?"

"Yeah, I was going to do that, but I thought it hborhood suddenly fell over dead! No, I didn’t try any other words I don’t even want to reen beans for fear she’ll kitty me"

"I’ Book says that we’re not immune to death ourselves I’d say the next time a kitten co out caskets"

"I’m sorry, Charlie, I don’t knohat to tell you I’ll check out my library at home, but it sounds like the kid is a lot closer than we are to how all the legends portray Death Things tend to balance, however, maybe there’s some positive side to this, uh, disorder she has In the meantime, maybe you should head over to Berkeley, see if you can find anything at the library there It’s a repository library - every book that’s printed goes there"

"Haven’t you tried that?"

"Yes, but I wasn’t looking for so over Don’t take the BART tunnel"

"You think the sewer harpies are in the BART tunnels?" Charlie asked

"Sewer harpies? What’s that?"

"It’s what I call theround, and I’ve been on a train when the power goes out I don’t think you want to risk it It feels like their territory Speaking of that, from my end they’ve been conspicuously silent for the last six months or so Not a peep"

"Yeah, the saht change that"

"Yeah, it probably will But with your daughter’s condition, we ame, too You watch your ass, Charlie Asher"

"You, too, Minty"

"Mr Fresh"

"I meant Mr Fresh"

"Good-bye, Charlie"

In his cabin on the great ship, Orcus picked his teeth with the splintered femur of an infant Babd combed his black mane with her claws as the bullheaded death pondered what the Morrigan had seen from the drain on Columbus Avenue: Charlie and Sophie in the park

"It is tih?" She clacked her claws like castanets, flinging drops of venom on the walls and floor