Page 141 (2/2)

"Swear it"

He shifted his paws about, accoreat belly, then dropped hard ona loud whuff from me, and touched his damp nose to mine "I see you, Yi-yi," he said, eyes slanted half closed and gleaained "I see you, too, Shaza across the island, and I was off chasing hi

He pounced round with hi atsun, on the island where I’d lost hiain

We played for hours, running and blowing off stea silvery minnows, and I was happy to see he’d not eaten all the fish He’d eaten only his eneether, we’d learn sether watching the waves lap at the shore, Shaza otten all about the others, lost in a time of much-needed joy and abandon

As stars came out to twinkle in the sky above me, Shazam looked at me and I was suddenly struck by how old his eyes seemed All playfulness and vulnerability had vanished and I was struck suddenly by how accurately I’d named him after a wise old wizard

"He’s happy, Yi-yi"

I went very still "He, who?"

"The one who danced you into love"

I stared at him Then, "How do you know about hier than I appear" His whiskers twitched as if he were vibrating with hidden laughter, then he busied hi lethal talons My Hel-Cat

"Shaza across the island Over his shoulder, he called, "Hungry And ready to go Hurry, tiny red Take me home"

Home

I knew some truths about that word now

You weren’t always born into one But if you were lucky, you found one so the way It was a place where you fit and were accepted, where people helped you with your problems and you helped them with theirs Where you made mistakes and so did they but the love never wavered

A place where erosions never turned into landslides because you dug one another out And alould

Shazaether this tie of the Horsehead Nebula, great dark wings trailing behind hi