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"Thanks to you," he said "Where--"

"Sunny Acres," said a familiar voice

Bes came down the steps to the dock He wore a new, even louder Hawaiian shirt and only his Speedo for pants, so I can’t say he was a sight for sore eyes Now that he was in the Duat, he fairly gloith power His hair had turned darker and curlier, and his face looked decades younger

"Bes!" I said "What took you so long? Are Walt and Zia--"

"They’re fine," he said "And I told you I’d n carved into the limestone archway "Used to be called the House of Rest Apparently they’ve changed the nalyphs, but I had no trouble reading it

"‘Sunny Acres Assisted-Living Community,’" I read "‘Fore," Bes said "Before your stalker arrives"

"Stalker?" Carter asked

Bes pointed to the top of the fiery waterfall, now a good halfThen there was a streak of white against the red flaed into the lake Apparently I hadn’t i followed

"Menshikov?" I said "That’s--that’s--"

"Bad news," Bes said "Now, cood"

20 We Visit the House of the Helpful Hippo

HOSPITALS CLASSROOMS Now I’ll add to my list of least-favorite places: old people’s horandparents I suppose their flat counts as an old people’s ho homes Those are the worst They s supplies, and pensioners The inmates (sorry, patients) always look so miserable And the homes have absurdly happy nah the liyptian version of assisted living Rows of colorfully painted colu torches Potted pal hibiscus plants were placed here and there in a failed attee s looked out on the Lake of Fire, which I suppose was a nice view if you enjoyed briyptian afterlife, along with jolly hieroglyphic mottos like IMMORTALITY WITH SECURITY and LIFE STARTS AT 3000!

Glowing servant lights and clay shabti in whitetrays ofwheelchairs The patients, however, didn’t bustle owns sat around the roo vacantly into space A feandered the roos All wore bracelets with their nalyphs

Some looked human, but many had animal heads An old man with the head of a crane rocked back and forth in a arizzled lioness’s head scooted herself around in a wheelchair, , "Meow, meow" A shriveled blue-skinned ed one of the limestone coluht try to leave hihly depressing

"What is this place?" I asked "Are those all gods?"

Carter seemed just as mystified as I was Bes looked like he was about to crawl out of his skin

"Never actually been here," he admitted "Heard rumors, but…" He sed as if he’d just eaten a spoonful of peanut butter "Come on Let’s ask at the nurses’ station"

The desk was a crescent of granite with a row of telephones (though I couldn’t iine who they’d call from the Duat), a computer, lots of clipboards, and a platter-size stone disk with a triangular fin--a sundial, which seee, as there was no sun

Behind the counter, a short, heavy wo a whiteboard with nalossy black hair was plaited down her back like an extra-large beaver’s tail, and her nurse’s cap barely fit on her wide head

We were halfway to the desk when Bes froze "It’s her"

"Who?" Carter asked

"This is bad" Bes turned pale "I should’ve known… Curse it! You’ll have to go without me"

I looked more closely at the nurse, who still had her back to us She did see, with massive beefy arms, a neck thicker than my waist, and oddly tinted purplish skin But I couldn’t understand why she bothered Bes so much

I turned to ask him, but Bes had ducked behind the nearest potted plant It wasn’t big enough to hide hie his Hawaiian shirt

"Bes, stop it," I said

"Shhh! I’hed "We don’t have time for this Come on, Sadie"

He led the way to the nurses’ station

"Excuse us," he called across the desk

The nurse turned, and I yelped I tried to contain my shock, but it was difficult, as the woman was a hippopota co snout was shaped like an upsidedown valentine heart, with bristly whiskers, tiny nostrils, and a e bottom teeth Her eyes were small and beady Her face looked quite odd framed with luxurious black hair, but it wasn’t nearly as peculiar as her body She wore her nurse’s blouse open like a jacket, revealing a bikini top that--how to put this delicately--was trying to cover a very great deal of top with very little fabric Her purple-pink belly was incredibly swollen, as if she were nine nant

"May I help you?" she asked Her voice was pleasant and kindly--not what one would expect from a hippopotamus Come to think of it, I wouldn’t expect any voice from a hippopotamus

"Um, hippo--Ifor…" I glanced at Carter and found he was not staring at the nurse’s face "Carter!"