"True," she said.
"That's our biggest problem," Aahz said.
Suddenly it dawned on me that we should know where we were going. What kind of magik map would simply lead to a dimension without giving directions to the location of the treasure in the dimension? After all, a world was a very large place to be looking for one cow.
I had taken the magik out of the map as far as getting to this crazy dimension. But it hadn't occurred to us to check the map once we were here.
"Aahz," I whispered. "Check the map."
He frowned at me. "Why would I-"
He must have had the same thought I had. Maybe, just maybe, the magik was back for local directions.
He reached into his pouch and pulled out the parchment Since his back was to the bar, he kept the map in front of him so no one else in the place could see it. Then, slowly, he opened it
It was instantly clear to me, as I pretended to love a hunk of cucumber, that the map had again changed. It was no longer a dimension map, but now a map of Kowtow.
The customers closest to us finished off their veggie plate and got up to leave. That left only two other tables and the guy behind the bar. And at the moment he wasn't looking.
"Open it all the way and see where we are," Glenda said. "It's clear."
Aahz, much to his credit, didn't turn around to check to see if she was right. He simply opened the map and spread it out over our plates of bad food.
No one paid any attention.
The golden cow palace was marked on the map. Well, at least we knew where that was.
Evade, the town we were in now was also marked. The road between them was marked as the lines between dimensions had been marked. There were a lot of other towns along the way, and one thing was very, very clear. We were still a long way from the golden cow.
Glenda studied the map hard, almost as if she were memorizing it.
"See anything that will help?" Tanda asked.
"If we go back to Vortex #6 I can get us a lot closer."
"Thank heavens," I said.
"Don't be thanking anyone yet," she said, staring at the map. "It's still going to be too far to walk."
Aahz folded up the map, put it back in his pouch, and stood.
"Tanda and I will go find a secluded place to hop back," he whi spered, leaning forward so only the three of us could hear him. "Think you two can get out of here without being notic ed?"
"Easy," Glenda said.
"See you there," Tanda said, standing and moving toward the front door.
After we had pretended to eat more of our lunch, push ing the stuff into a pile on one side of the plate like I used to do as a kid, Glenda got up and went back over to the guy behind the bar.
I kept pretending, wishing the stuff tasted good, since the idea of eating had made me hungry.
After a moment the guy in charge nodded to Glenda, smiling as if she had promised him more than I wanted to think about.
She motioned that I should join her and I did, carrying our plates. The guy led us through the door and into what might be called a kitchen. There were barrels of the different veggies against one wall, and some dirty plates and glasses stacked near a water barrel. No wonder everything tasted so bad. I didn't want to even think about the fact that I had eaten a bite of some of the stuff from this room.
"Wash water is in the barrel," he said. He tossed me a dirty towel. "Dry the dishes before wiping down everything else."
Glenda put her hand on his shoulder and eased him around toward the door.
"Don't worry," she said. "We'll get everything all cleaned up."
"I know you will," he said. The guy was more putty in her hands than I was, and for some reason that thought just annoyed me.
He went back out through the door and Glenda turned to face me.
"Well, handsome, my father was right. You are special." I could feel myself blushing. "Thanks."
"No, thank you," she said, "for everything. In all the years of trying to find the silly treasure on that map, I never thought I'd know exactly where it was at."
"Well, now we do, and we can get there pretty soon," I said. "Jump us back to Vortex #6."
She smiled and shook her head.
"Sorry, my prince in a white hat. Maybe next time."
With a slight wave and a kiss motion, she vanished in a slight POOF!
"That's not funny," I shouted, staring at where she had been.
The guy came in, looking puzzled.
"What's not funny? And where is your beautiful friend?"
I glanced around, then pointed at the back door.
"I told her I'd get started on the dishes. She'll be right back, I'm sure."
"Good," he said. "Let me know when she returns. She said she had a surprise for me."
He headed back out into the main room, leaving me stand ing there alone in a strange kitchen.
In a strange dimension.
It seemed he wasn't the only one Glenda had planned a surprise for.
Chapter Six
"Alone again...naturally."
R. CRUSOE
Now I have to admit that my first reaction after Glenda left me standing there in that restaurant kitchen was to scream and shout and call out her name, along with Aahz and Tanda's names.
Screaming would have covered up the panic I felt, but I knew for a fact that screaming would have done no good. But I still wanted to, more than anything.
I didn't.
My second reaction was to run like crazy out the back door, but then I would be a wanted man for skipping out on the lunch bill, and considering I might be stuck here for some time, I managed to not run either.
But I sure wanted to.
The third reaction I had was to go into automatic to give my poor mind time to sort through what had just happened. That was as good as anything I could do, so I turned and started washing off the dishes, dumping the garbage in a big pail, and dipping the plates enough in the dirty barrel water that they pretended to be clean.
I could imagine that on the outside I looked calm and col lected, but on the inside I was a mess.
"Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic," I kept saying to myself, timing the phrase with deep breaths and the dipping of the dishes in the water.
Finally I got myself under enough control to ask a few questions.
Why had she left me?
No easy answer. At least none that I wanted to really admit, yet there was nothing else that made sense. She had left. That simple. She had seen the location of the golden cow trea sure and that was the last thing she needed from me or Aahz or Tanda. On the first opportunity she had headed off on her own.
Leaving me alone in a kitchen in a strange dimension. "Don't panic," I said to myself, dipping more dishes. I dumped more half-eaten food into the bucket, dipped another plate, and asked the next question. Had I been a fool?
The answer to that one came clearly in Aahz's voice. Yes.
He would also say it was nothing new or unusual. She had played me, and Aahz and Tanda, like a finely tuned musical instrument, using my heart and my emotions as the strings.
"What a fool," I said aloud.
There was no one in there to agree with me, but I didn't need anyone to agree. I knew I had been a fool.
I scraped, dipped, and went on to the next question.
What do I do now?
I had no idea.
Nothing. I was stuck here for the moment. Maybe forever if something happened to Aahz and Tanda, or if they couldn't find me.