“Where’s the dust rag?”
“Hook on the wall.” Matt felt a stab of conscience… house work reminded him of his mother.
“Unfinished business first, though.”
“Unfinished? You haven’t even started anything!”
“Yeah, but I’d better check my mail.”
“Oh, yeah? You know a carrier who goes between universes?”
“No, but I think I can take advantage of a space time anomaly…
“That would be singular,” Saul admitted “or would it be a singularity?”
“The magical equivalent, anyway,” Matt said. “You know, someday we’re going to have to work out how closely the laws of magic parallel the laws of physics.”
“Some day you’re going to have to learn physics,” Saul grumbled. “Why, when I’ve got you? You know, you never did explain to me why a philosopher took so many physics courses.”
“I was trying not to graduate,” Saul retorted “Besides, once you get far enough into mathematics, the relationships between the three fields get to be too strong to ignore.”
“You’ll have to explain that to me, too.”
“I’ll try,” Saul sighed, “but it seems ridiculous, when you have such a great intuitive grasp of it yourself.”
“All right, so you’ll have to explain me to me. Besides, how can you have an intuitive grasp of physics and math?”
“How were you going to get your mail?” Saul retorted.
“Like this ” Matt frowned, concentrating, then folded a piece of parchment and tucked it into a jar, reciting,
Saul said, “Not the world’s best… “
An envelope appeared in midair and floated down to land on the workbench.
“Okay, so it was good enough,” Saul grumbled.
“Well! That was fast! Mama and Papa must have started writing the second I left the house!” Matt picked up the envelope… and stared, his face blanking.
“It’s not from your folks?” Saul guessed.
“No, it’s not.” Matt yanked out his dagger and slit the envelope. “It’s from Mrs. Gussenhoven… a neighbor. She must have started writing the second I stepped out the door. But how did she get my address?”
“Asked your mother?” Saul guessed.
“Yeah, over the back fence.” Saul unfolded the page of stationery and started reading. Silence stretched.
“Good job of face camouflage,” Saul said, “if you were in a snowbank. Share!”
” ‘Dear Matthew,’ ” Matt read, ” ‘I got your address from your mother because I think you ought to know.’ “
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah.” Matt’s face finished blanching to maximum paleness and started reddening with anger. “I don’t think they let you know how bad things are. They’re proud, God bless them, but maybe too proud. Your papa’s store doesn’t have any business anymore, except he delivers for some of us old folks himself. The bad boys won’t let anybody else deliver. They scare the customers away so they go to the supermarket. They don’t dare try to stop your papa yet, but they’re getting bolder. They’re mad at your papa because he won’t let them turn his store into their hangout and crack drop. He will have to close for good pretty soon, and he doesn’t have unemployment, because he is in business for himself. The bank is going to foreclose on their house.
“I do not know what you can do, but please do it anyway. Send them some money somehow. I know that is hard, because your papa won’t take it, but find an excuse…
… It was good to see you walk by again, and I hope your new job makes you happy… Then the ‘Yours truly,’ and that’s it.” Matt slammed the letter down on the desktop. “She’s right… the state doesn’t pay unemployment benefits if you’re self-employed.”
Saul nodded. “Even if you go broke and have to shut down.”
“And neither of them is old enough to apply for Social Security yet. Damn! What the hell can I do?”
“Same as people have been doing for centuries,” Saul said. “Invite them to move in with you.”
“Of course!” Matt looked up, eyes alight. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you’re not a genius, like me.”
“Right! Thanks!” Matt was gone out the door in a whirl, pounding away down the stairs.
Saul stared, blinking, then ran after him, calling, “Hey, wait a minute! What about the genies?”
“A room in our castle? Your parents? Of course!” Alisande glared. “They may have a suite! Fetch them at once!”
“Thanks, dear, uh, Your Majesty, uh…” Matt caught his breath. “Why are you angry?”
“Your own parents, and you did not discover they were in need before this? Why, what an undutiful son you are! Get you hence, Lord Wizard, and bring them home at once!”
“You’re so beautiful when I’m wrong.” Matt darted a loud kiss onto her cheek. “And you’re right, I was a louse.” Then he stepped back, smile vanishing, becoming formal. “My liege, may I have leave to leave and bring back my parents?”
“Of course you may! I command you to be off at once, to save your mother and father!” But the wife’s anxiety shone through the cracks in the queen’s emotional armor. “Yet I will insist you take with you at least one knight, for from what you have told me, there is danger in your world. Now be off with you!”
“Yes, Majesty! See you in a week or so!” He spun on his heel and strode back to his tower.
He slammed into the laboratory, fuming, “Blast and fusion! How am I going to manage anything in twentieth-century America with a medieval knight hanging around my neck?”
“I think I know just the man,” Saul said slowly.
Chapter Six
The mercury vapor lamps lit the train station well enough for any late commuters to be as safe as they were going to be, but those same streetlights cast deep shadows under the tunnel to the far tracks. There, the air thickened suddenly, gelling into two human forms… and Matt lurched and stumbled, then turned to catch Sir Gilbert as he wobbled. He thrust himself away from Matt, protesting, “I did not faint!”
“Of course not,” Matt assured him. “You just went dizzy for a few minutes. It always happens when you travel by magic.”
“Oh. It does?”
“Can’t be helped,” Matt assured him. He looked the knight up and down and sighed. The castle tailors had worked frantically, and Matt supposed Gilbert could get away with it. His trousers were just tubes of cloth tacked on to the hip section of a pair of tights. His “jacket” was a doublet cut down the front and equipped with buttons. He had been adamant about the emblem of his order, so Matt had asked the tailors to sew it onto the back of the loose linen shirt that hid Sir Gilbert’s chain mail… well, he wouldn’t be the first person to wear a vest like that in this part of the world. All in all, Matt supposed, Gilbert wouldn’t attract too much attention until Matt could get him into a department store and put some modern clothes on his back, assuming the clerks could find a sport coat big enough for that pair of shoulders.
A roar sounded overhead, shaking the concrete about them. Gilbert nearly jumped into the abutment, looking about him wildly. “What… ? Where… ?”
“It’s just, um, a string of wagons.” Matt decided he didn’t need to have Gilbert bracing himself against the unknown for the rest of the trip. “Come on, I’ll show you.”