"Sorry," she said. "Should have thought of it."
"That nose business you do is strangely evocative, I must say."
"I've rigged it as a trigger for my spells. I stole it from an old TV sitcom."
"Of course. Television, the source of all wisdom. I'll never live up to Darin."
"Of course you will. Who'll play the mother-in-law?"
"Endora? Deena."
"Great, we're set for a long season."
"High ratings."
They laughed, then fell silent.
At length Linda said, "Sure is quiet."
"Yup."
She looked at Gene. "Want to talk about it?"
"It? Oh."
"Us?"
"Yeah, us. What about us?"
She shrugged. "Any future?"
He shrugged in turn. "Dunno."
"Should we have an affair?"
Gene chuckled. "What a question."
"I'm serious."
"You really want my opinion?"
"Yes."
"No."
"We shouldn't?"
"Probably not," Gene said. "We make a good team. We've gone through a lot together. Maybe we shouldn't complicate it."
Linda's shoulders fell a little. "Maybe not."
"Are you relieved or disappointed?"
"Don't know, really."
"Are you hurt?"
"Hurt? No, not at all."
"I like you, Linda."
"And I like you. Guess I was being silly."
"No. Oh, hell. Linda, I think you're attractive."
"You do? You've never said so."
"No, guess I never have said so. Seems to me that the subject simply never came up. But it's true. I've always thought you were attractive. The thing is-"
"What?"
"I've always thought of you as… above it all."
"Above what?"
"You've always seemed… What am I trying to say? Uninterested, aloof from anything so mundane as romance."
"Really?" Linda was amazed.
"Not true?"
Linda thought about it. "Call it hibernation. I was just in a dormant state. You're forgetting the psychological wreck I was when I arrived here."
Gene thought back. "You're right. I'd quite forgot."
"So now maybe I'm better. Or thought I was. Ready for romance. But that's out of the question."
"Hey, I never said it was out of the question."
"What did you say?"
"Well, you asked me if I thought it was a good idea for us to… you know."
Linda smiled. "You know?"
"You know, do that thing."
"Sleep together. Gene, you're almost blushing."
"Don't be silly, my dear. We men of the world-"
"You are blushing! You must have taken up with a dozen women since I've known you."
"What? You're dreaming! And as far as blushing is concerned, I'm blushing because you're trying to make me blush. Stop that!"
Linda giggled. "Sorry."
"Okay, well… What the hell were we talking about?"
"Having sex."
"Good God, woman! This isn't a proper conversation, not at all, not at all."
"Prude."
"Besides, `sex' in that usage is a misnomer, you know. `Sex' means gender, not coitus."
"You should go on Jeopardy."
"Well, it's true."
"Fine. Anyway. So you didn't rule it out, but you don't think we should."
"That's more or less what I said."
Linda nodded. "Okay, I can live with that, I suppose."
"Wait a minute. What do you think?"
"What's it matter what I think if you don't think it's a good idea?"
"Because the fact that it might not be-I say might not be-such a good idea doesn't have anything to do with my maybe wanting to do it."
"So your answer is maybe?"
Gene crossed his ankles and leaned back. "Maybe."
"Your answer is maybe, or maybe your answer is maybe?"
"It may be that maybe is my answer."
"God, talk about playing hard to get."
"Who's playing hard to get? All I said was-"
"You said maybe maybe."
"Maybe maybe?"
"Not just one maybe. Double maybe."
"No, what I said was-"
"I don't believe this," Linda said. "The woman is supposed to play hard to get."
"Well, these are the nineties. The gay nineties."
"Don't be silly. Maybe you're right, though."
"Right about what?" Gene asked.
"About us not being compatible."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't? But you said we'd be no good together. Maybe that's true. For one thing, you're six times brighter than I am."
"Oh, please."
"No, really. Sometimes you're so bright you blind me. You're witty and charming. You're absolute greased lightning with a comeback, and you always know the right thing to say-"
"Give me a freaking break."
"Listen to me. Sometimes I can't keep up with you."
"You listen to me," Gene told her. "One of the reasons I like having you around is that you let me be bright and charming and oh-so witty. People are different depending on who they're with, you know. If I'm charming when you're around, it's only because you bring that out in me."
Linda looked at him for a moment before she said, "That's a nice thing to say."
"It's true."
"Thank you for saying it. But you do intimidate me sometimes."
"Sorry, don't mean to."
"I know it's not intentional."
"Last thing I want to do is intimidate you. Some other people, yes. So, you think this is major problem between us?"
Linda shook her head. "No, I'm not saying it's a major problem."
"A minor problem?"
"Uh, well, maybe."
Gene said, "Lots of maybes in this conversation."
"Yeah. Seriously, I don't want to give the impression that I think there are these major barriers between us. Just… well, what I'm saying is… uh…"
"What are you saying?"
"What are you saying?"
"What I said."
"Which was?"
Gene thought about it. "I need to think about this a little bit more."
"There's hope?"
"Are you hoping there's hope?"
"Are you?"
Gene laughed. "This is like a poker game."
"How so?"
"Playing close to the vest. We don't want to tip our hands."
"Maybe we're both afraid of being hurt," Linda said.
"Maybe we're both bluffing?"
"Could be. Maybe we should leave it at that."
"More maybes."
"Yeah." Linda suddenly yawned. "Oh, excuse me."
"You want me to take a nap?"
"I'd love to."
The noise level jumped and startled them both.
Gene glanced at both entrances. The magically created doors were gone.
"You're doing your disappearing act well these days," he commented.
"I don't make anything disappear," she said. "I just make the spell weak, and when it fizzles, the thing I conjured just vanishes."
"Oh, is that how you do it? Neat. You want to rest more?"
"No, let's get to the bottom of this. We have to."
"Okay. But I hate to-"
A large, well-muscled man came bursting through the archway. He wore the visored steel helmet and greaves of a gladiator and carried a shield, but his chest was vulnerably bare. Seeing Gene, he raised his short-sword and charged. Gene leaped up and drew in time to parry the man's lunging thrust. Stepping deftly aside, he tripped his assailant and laid the flat of his sword sharply across the man's bare back.
The man yelled and went tumbling. But he was quick to recover, get to his feet, and charge again.
Gene and the gladiator fought. The shield was an advantage, but Gene was by far the abler swordsman. In short order Gene had the man backed into a corner, and slashing two-handed with his larger and superior weapon, reduced the shield to a battered and dented plate.
Linda, watching from behind the couch, let out a tiny scream when Gene found an opening and thrust his sword home.