no. I mean, you really lucked out!’
‘You don’t get to be sarcastic,’ he warned me sharply, nodding towards Daniel. ‘As far as I know, you and Orlando aren’t even on a break.’
And that was enough hissing and whispering because Zoran had settled the sound problem and Daniel was beckoning us across.
As we drew near, I half heard the tail end of a conversation between Zoran and Cristal.
‘They fell out of love?’ Cristal queried in a low voice, obviously surprised and repeating what Zoran had told her. She shot a quick glance in Aaron’s direction.
‘… Not a good fit,’ he muttered back. ‘Oliver is a better candidate.’
Like I say, I didn’t hear most of what they said and I didn’t know who Oliver might be, but I did notice Cristal stayed at the sound board while Daniel, Aaron, Zoran and I left the studio and headed for the house.
‘Cristal has work to do,’ Zoran explained to a puzzled and disappointed Aaron. ‘Daniel, maybe you can take Aaron outside and show him our new arrivals.’
With a quick nod Daniel took Aaron towards the arena where the mustangs stood sniffing the air and tossing their tangled manes. I watched Daniel’s rear view – long legs, tight butt, broad shoulders – maybe looking for a single imperfection that would steady my rapid pulse. Nope, nothing. And now the guy could train horses too.
‘I’ll let you into a secret – Daniel is really into you,’ Zoran confided without a shade of embarrassment.
What can I say? I didn’t know what to do with the information but I was deeply flattered and my pulse continued to race. ‘So I guess I should carry on with my hike,’ I sighed.
‘Let me show you something first,’ he offered with a smile. ‘With your background, I just know you’ll find this interesting.’
He led the way through the main door into the white marble hallway, down two storeys in the elevator and along the silent corridor beyond. ‘You like ethnic art?’ he checked. ‘I have an extremely rare object to show you.’
I nodded, expecting him to stop and deliver a short lecture as we reached the row of Aztec masks – origins, spiritual significance, that sort of thing. He would pick one out – maybe Tepeyo-thingy, god of the underworld. But no, he was in so much of a hurry to show me his latest precious object that he brushed carelessly against the last mask in the row. I held my breath and watched as the mask – a ceramic representation of a primitive elongated face decorated in a red and black – slipped from its hook and fell to the floor.
I heard the impact, saw the mask smash and fragment, immediately crouched to help Zoran pick it up. But the shards seemed to shift under my fingers, sliding together again as if drawn by a magnet and fitting right back into place. I found myself staring down at the black circles painted around two bulging eyes and the piece of bone piercing a broad nose. The mask was back to its original condition as if the accident had never happened.
‘Not a problem,’ Zoran said with a strange knot of concentration between his brows. He put the mask back on its hook.
‘But how—’
‘Don’t ask,’ he cut in. ‘Just follow.’
First I wanted to yelp then I wanted to groan. That was so weird, like stepping out of reality into a dream for five brief seconds – so short that now I couldn’t believe that it had happened. Shaking my head, I almost felt my brain rattle inside my skull.
‘Come with me,’ Zoran insisted. He led me into a storage room next to the small cinema where we’d watched the recording of last week’s wildfire and went to a white cabinet built into an alcove in the wall. Sliding out a drawer, he beckoned me across.
So now I was looking down at a small, solid gold figurine – a snake’s head with pointed teeth in its jaws and a long, forked tongue hanging down. The body curved in an S-shape and ended in a plate decorated with bright-green stones. The whole thing was perhaps three
‘You don’t get to be sarcastic,’ he warned me sharply, nodding towards Daniel. ‘As far as I know, you and Orlando aren’t even on a break.’
And that was enough hissing and whispering because Zoran had settled the sound problem and Daniel was beckoning us across.
As we drew near, I half heard the tail end of a conversation between Zoran and Cristal.
‘They fell out of love?’ Cristal queried in a low voice, obviously surprised and repeating what Zoran had told her. She shot a quick glance in Aaron’s direction.
‘… Not a good fit,’ he muttered back. ‘Oliver is a better candidate.’
Like I say, I didn’t hear most of what they said and I didn’t know who Oliver might be, but I did notice Cristal stayed at the sound board while Daniel, Aaron, Zoran and I left the studio and headed for the house.
‘Cristal has work to do,’ Zoran explained to a puzzled and disappointed Aaron. ‘Daniel, maybe you can take Aaron outside and show him our new arrivals.’
With a quick nod Daniel took Aaron towards the arena where the mustangs stood sniffing the air and tossing their tangled manes. I watched Daniel’s rear view – long legs, tight butt, broad shoulders – maybe looking for a single imperfection that would steady my rapid pulse. Nope, nothing. And now the guy could train horses too.
‘I’ll let you into a secret – Daniel is really into you,’ Zoran confided without a shade of embarrassment.
What can I say? I didn’t know what to do with the information but I was deeply flattered and my pulse continued to race. ‘So I guess I should carry on with my hike,’ I sighed.
‘Let me show you something first,’ he offered with a smile. ‘With your background, I just know you’ll find this interesting.’
He led the way through the main door into the white marble hallway, down two storeys in the elevator and along the silent corridor beyond. ‘You like ethnic art?’ he checked. ‘I have an extremely rare object to show you.’
I nodded, expecting him to stop and deliver a short lecture as we reached the row of Aztec masks – origins, spiritual significance, that sort of thing. He would pick one out – maybe Tepeyo-thingy, god of the underworld. But no, he was in so much of a hurry to show me his latest precious object that he brushed carelessly against the last mask in the row. I held my breath and watched as the mask – a ceramic representation of a primitive elongated face decorated in a red and black – slipped from its hook and fell to the floor.
I heard the impact, saw the mask smash and fragment, immediately crouched to help Zoran pick it up. But the shards seemed to shift under my fingers, sliding together again as if drawn by a magnet and fitting right back into place. I found myself staring down at the black circles painted around two bulging eyes and the piece of bone piercing a broad nose. The mask was back to its original condition as if the accident had never happened.
‘Not a problem,’ Zoran said with a strange knot of concentration between his brows. He put the mask back on its hook.
‘But how—’
‘Don’t ask,’ he cut in. ‘Just follow.’
First I wanted to yelp then I wanted to groan. That was so weird, like stepping out of reality into a dream for five brief seconds – so short that now I couldn’t believe that it had happened. Shaking my head, I almost felt my brain rattle inside my skull.
‘Come with me,’ Zoran insisted. He led me into a storage room next to the small cinema where we’d watched the recording of last week’s wildfire and went to a white cabinet built into an alcove in the wall. Sliding out a drawer, he beckoned me across.
So now I was looking down at a small, solid gold figurine – a snake’s head with pointed teeth in its jaws and a long, forked tongue hanging down. The body curved in an S-shape and ended in a plate decorated with bright-green stones. The whole thing was perhaps three
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