“Gee, thanks,” Bonnie responded.
“Unless you got him real mad,” Chastity added. “Then it might be okay for him to shoot you in the foot.”
Bonnie grinned. “I’m beginning to understand why the two of you are so close.”
“Are we two peas in a pod?”
“Yeah. I’d say so. Where did you hear that?”
“Uncle Rikki said so,” Chastity replied.
“I haven’t met your Uncle Rikki yet. Is he nice?”
“Real nice. He teases Daddy a lot.”
“Does Uncle Rikki have a woman?”
“Yep. A lady named Lexine. She lives at their Home.”
“Figures,” Bonnie said wistfully.
The Warriors came abreast of them.
“Do you want me to hold you, princess?” Hickok asked.
“I don’t mind,” Bonnie said.
“I’m fine,” Chastity stated. “You’d better be ready in case more bad men show up.”
“How many people have you shot?” Bonnie inquired.
“I never counted ’em,” Hickok said.
“A few? A lot?”
“What difference does it make?” Hickok retorted.
“I was just curious,” Bonnie explained. “Have you ever shot anyone in the foot?”
“Once or twice. Why?”
“Oh, nothing,” Bonnie commented, and laughed.
The gunman looked at Blade. “Why are women so blamed weird?”
“I never noticed they were,” Blade replied.
“I keep forgettin’. Your missus has the wool pulled over your eyes,” Hickok declared.
“She does not.”
“And you don’t think that womenfolk are a teensy-weensy bit on the strange side?”
“No.”
“I rest my case.”
They hurried along the avenue. The farther they went, the less attention was directed their way. After four blocks no one was gawking at them.
Hickok looked over his right shoulder. “Looks like we hood-winked those varmints.”
“You spoke too soon,” Blade said, nodding to the north.
A Hound patrol was approaching down the middle of the boulevard, pushing through the crowd, the sergeant in the lead barking for everyone to stand aside.
“Quick,” Blade declared, angling to the right-hand curb. He halted at a rickety wooden booth manned by a grizzled proprietor with a toothless smirk, who was wearing a bedraggled wool coat even in the August heat.
“Can I help you?” the man asked. “Honest Ike is my name.”
Blade rested his hands on his knees and pretended to inspect the wares in the stand, casually regarding a collection of rusted pots and pans, dog-eared books, faded clothes, various utensils, and assorted odds and ends.
“Everything is ten percent off today,” Ike informed them. “I’m having a clearance sale.”
“You make a living sellin’ this stuff?” Hickok queried, fingering a glass unicorn with three legs and a broken horn.
“Yep. And don’t touch the merchandise, sonny. You break it, you pay for it.”
“Where do you find this junk?” Hickok asked.
Honest Ike glared at the gunman. “I’ll thank you not to call my quality merchandise junk. Folks come from miles around to trade with me.”
Blade gazed at the avenue, watching the Hound patrol as they hastened to the south.
“What’s that?” Hickok inquired, pointing at a battered paperback in the corner of a shelf. Displayed on the cover was a snarling hound in a gold Egyptian headdress.
“It’s a book, dummy.”
“I know that,” Hickok said. “Is it any good?”
“Why don’t you read it and find out.”
“How much?”
“For you, I’ll let it go for eight bullets.”
Hickok glanced at the old-timer. “Eight rounds of ammo for a book?”
“We don’t need anything.” Blade said, straightening. The Hound patrol was out of sight.
“Seven bullets,” Ike said.
“Is it a horror book?” Hickok asked.
“It’s a scary one, all right,” Ike confirmed. “Lots of blood and gore. It’s about this plague—”
“No, thanks,” Hickok said.
“Six bullets.”
“No,” Hickok responded, turning away.
“Five.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I’m partial to Westerns.”
“It has sex in it.”
Hickok halted and stared at the book. “It does?”
“Forget the book,” Blade directed, nudging the gunman’s left shoulder.
“We have important business to attend to. Remember?”
“A little literary culture never hurt anyone,” Hickok remarked.
They resumed their trek in a northerly direction, on the alert for Hounds.
“Say, Daddy?” Chastity spoke up two blocks later.
“What, missy?”
“What did that man mean?”
“About what?”
“That word he used,” Chastity said.
“Which word?”
“Sex. What’s sex?”
Hickok did a double take. “Sex?” he blurted out.
“What is it?” Chastity inquired earnestly.
“Yeah, Daddy. I’d like to hear this myself. What is sex?” Blade queried impishly.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you about sex?” Hickok asked.
“No.”
“She’s only six, for crying out loud,” Blade noted.
“How about the birds and the bees?” Hickok questioned.
“I know about them,” Chastity said. “Birds have feathers and wings and fly. Bees have wings and stingers.”
“You sure know your birds and bees,” Hickok muttered.
“So what’s sex?” Chastity persisted inquisitively.
“Uhhhh,” Hickok stalled, keenly conscious of the amused gazes of Blade and Bonnie. “Sex is what happens when a man’s hormones are all agitated and a woman is feelin’ generous.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Have you ever noticed that men and women are different?”
“Yep,” Chastity responded.
“You have?”
“Women are smarter.”
“Says who?”
“My mom said that all the time.”
“Do you know about kissin’?”
Chastity scrunched her nose. “Kissing is yucky stuff.”
“You’ll like it better when you grow up.”
“Never,” Chastity declared. “I’ve seen people kissing and hugging. Once I saw this guy and girl in the park, and they were kissing and hugging and wrestling all at the same time.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Hickok said. “When you finally decide that kissin’ isn’t yucky, you should ask your new mommy about sex.”
“Will she know?”
“She’s a fair hand at it,” Hickok acknowledged.
“I’ll ask my new mommy when we get to the Home,” Chastity promised.
“And I’ll ask her why she’s fair at it.”
“Uh-oh,” Hickok said.
Laughing quietly, Bonnie looked at Blade. “Does he always stick his foot in his mouth?”
“Only when his mouth is open,” Blade replied.
They traveled another three blocks without incident.
“We take a right,” Bonnie instructed as they neared an intersection.
“How far to the estate?” Blade asked.
“Three miles, give or take,” Bonnie told him.
They bore to the right along a narrow street. Few of the barter booths were in evidence, and the number of pedestrians had dwindled.
“We’ll make better time,” Bonnie said.
Although they were able to increase their speed without arousing any undue glances or suspicion, Blade chafed at the pace. He was eager to locate Rikki and leave Memphis far behind. All he could think of was the stashed jeep and the likelihood of being with his loved ones in another week. After such a prolonged separation, such a reaction was natural.
And costly.
Engrossed in his reflection. Blade was not devoting his full attention to the road and sidewalks. His acute hearing vaguely registered a jumble of subdued noises from a junction ahead, but he was absently wondering if they would be able to rescue Rikki before nightfall.