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'Not quite Sih' There was no sound for a while but the brushing of two broo said, 'I'ive a sift or token to his master when he finishes his apprenticeship'

'Possibly,' said Lu-Tze, straightening up 'But I don't need anything I've got myhe desires,' said Lobsang 'Hah! Got you there, then, wonder boy I'h all o'

'Oh dear That is a shahtened up and swung his broom onto his shoulder 'In any case, I must leave,' he said 'There is so much still to do'

'I'm sure there is,' said Lu-Tze 'I'm sure there is There's the whole stretch under the trees, for one thing And while we're on the subject, wonder boy, did you let that witch have her broos back It's a lot newer than it was, too'

'Hah!' said Lu-Tze, sweeping up a few more petals 'Just like that Just like that So easily does a thief of tiht the rebuke in the tone He stared down at his feet 'Well, perhaps not all of them, I admit,' he said 'Oh?' said Lu-Tze, still apparently fascinated by the end of his own broom 'But when you have to save a world you cannot think of one person, you see, because one person is a part of that world,' Lobsang went on 'Really?' said the sweeper 'You think so? You've been talking to soe people,earnestly 'And I hope she'll understand'

'It's aht way of putting it,' said Lu-Tze 'Best of luck, lad You didn't do so bad, on the whole And is it not written, "There's no ti s After a while, he sift to the ive hihed out loud Overhead, swelling as he watched, the cherries were ripening Tick In some place that had not existed before, and only existed now for this very purpose, stood a large, gleaar cream infused with essence of violet and stirred into dark chocolate,' said Chaos 'There are also strata of hazelnut praline in rich butter creaht' SOYOU'RE SAYING THAT THIS VAT COULD EXIST SOMEWHERE IN A TRULY INFINITE EVERYWHERE AND THEREFORE IT CAN EXIST HERE? said Death 'Indeed,' said Chaos BUT IT NO LONGER EXISTS IN THE PLACE WHERE IT SHOULD EXIST 'No It should, now, exist here The maths is easy,' said Chaos AH? WELL, MATHS, said Death dismissively GENERALLY I NEVER GET MUCH FURTHER THAN SUBTRACTION 'In any case, chocolate is hardly a rare commodity,' said Chaos 'There are planets covered in the stuff' REALLY?

'Indeed' IT MIGHT BE BEST, said Death, IF NEWS LIKE THAT DID NOT GET ABOUT He walked back to where Unity aiting in the darkness YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS, he said 'What else is there?' said Unity 'I have betrayed my own kind And I am hideously insane I can never be at hoony' She stared into the chocolate abyss A dusting of sugar sparkled on its surface Then she slipped out of her dress To her a so, but still drew herself up haughtily 'Spoon,' she coave a silver ladle a final, theatrical polish and passed it to her 'Goodbye,' said Unity 'Do pass on hter' She walked a few steps back, turned, broke into a run, and took off into a perfect s dive The chocolate closed over her with barely a sound Then the tatchers waited until the fat, lazy ripples had died away 'Now there was a lady with style,' said Chaos 'What a waste' YES I THOUGHT SO 'Well, it's been fun up to that point, anyway And now I must be off,' said Chaos YOU'RE CONTINUING WITH THE MILK ROUND? 'People rely on me' Death looked impressed IT'S GOING TO BE INTERESTING TO HAVE YOU BACK, he said 'Yeah It is,' said Chaos 'You're not co?' I'M GOING TO WAIT HERE FOR A WHILE 'Why?' JUST IN CASE 'Ah' YES

It was some minutes later that Death reached into his robe and pulled out a lifetined for a doll He turned round 'But I died,' said the shade of Unity YES, said Death THIS IS THE NEXT PARTTick E on her pencil Then, rather slowly but with the air of one ireat secrets, she set to work We went to Lanker where there are witches they are kind they grow erbs Weabot a hedghog it had dificut words Jason try to kick her cat it chase him up a tre I know a lot about wiches now they do not have warts they do not eat you they are just like your grane except your grane does not know difult words At her high desk Susan relaxed There was nothing like a classrooood teacher used whateverthe class to visit Mrs Ogg was an education in herself Two educations A classroos, poster paints, long-dead stick insect, glue and, of course, the faint arorandfather She'd raged that he hadn't told her things And he'd said of course he hadn't If you told humans what the future held, it wouldn't That ic The trouble was that Susan was only s were back in that uneasy, rather cool state where they spent most of their time, in the tiny little faht, that was a nor, she'd always remember that phrase now - they'd rely on each other autoht Apart from that, they kept out of one another's way She hadn't seen the Death of Rats lately It was too much to hope that he was dead In any case, it hadn't slowed him down so far That made her think wistfully about the contents of her desk Susan was very strict about eating in class and took the view that, if there were rules, then they applied to everyone, even her Otherwise they were merely tyranny But maybe rules were there to make you think before you broke thes & Meakins' cheapest assort the lid carefully and slipping her hand in was easy, and so was the maintenance of a suitably teachery face while she did so Questing fingers found a chocolate in the nest of eat But she was resolute Life was tough Soat

Then she briskly picked up the keys and walked to the Stationery Cupboard hat she hoped was the purposeful step of someone about to check on the supply of pencils After all, you never kneith pencils They needed watching The door clicked behind her, leaving only the dih the transom She put the chocolate in her mouth and shut her eyes A faint, cardboardy soundon the boxes of stars They spilled out and whirled up into the shadows of the cupboard, brilliant against the darkness, a galaxy inSusan watched theht, you have my full attention, whoever you are' At least, that hat she at caused it to come out as: 'Allite, you ot my fo' a'nen'on, oover ooah' Damn! The stars spiralled around her head, and the cupboard's interior darkened into interstellar black 'If iss is oo, Def o' Raffs-' she began 'It's at, you can have a perfect moment

The End