Fates' Folly by Ella Norris Page A

make a healthy diet
plan for you to start tomorrow," he said.
    "No. You can make suggestions, you can even
ridicule me if you want to, but you will not plan out my meals or
tell me what to eat like I'm a child. I don't care if you're right,
and this food is unhealthy, I may even agree with you. Hell, I'll
take out an ad in the Cade county paper saying its nutritional
suicide if you want, but you will not decide what I eat. Ever," I
said.
    "So as long as I don't tell you specifically
what to eat or plan out your meals, I can do anything else I want,
to get you to eat healthily?"
    "Except physically forcing me," I added,
hoping I wasn't making a mistake.
    "To even suggest such a thing is an insult,"
he said, sounding truly offended.
    I rolled my eyes. "Why does it matter? I'm
immortal, it's not like I have to worry about heart disease."
    "You need to have Riley explain how
immortality works, but mostly you're right. It's about
self-worth."
    "Look, don't go all sympathetic on me because
my mama wasn't much of a mother and loved men and whiskey more than
me. I made my peace with that years ago."
    "Why would you think I felt anything other
than disdain for you, T.T?"
    "Because you have that look, the one that
says, Oh look she's been neglected. Let's make her our pet project
and we'll feel better about ourselves."
    "Poor pitiful Myra," Barty said,
sarcastically, as he started making himself a peanut butter
sandwich.
     
    One hour later, when Barty was finally about
to leave, Riley arrived. I was laying on the couch with a towel
over my head, trying to soak up the sweat dripping down my
face.
    "How did it go?” he asked.
    Barty sighed, "Miserable. She's a walking
disaster. She doesn't have the ability to follow direction or keep
her mouth shut. She has the attention span of a ferret, and I'm
beginning to wonder about her intelligence-"
    I yanked the towel off my face. "Hey, I'm
sitting right here!" I shouted.
    "See, she felt the need to point that out,
though we obviously both see her."
    Riley was staring at his feet. I recognized
this pose. He was trying to keep from laughing. Barty, seeming not
to notice, was still in mid-rant, listing my failing attributes.
"No patience, lazy, poor balance-"
    I gave up, crawled off the couch and went to
take a bath. Twenty minutes later, Riley knocked on the bathroom
door. "If you're still going with me to Morgan Hill, I have to
leave in five minutes," he said.
    "Is he gone?"
    "Yes."
    "Did you leave this morning because you knew
Barty was showing up?"
    "Yes."
    "I don't like you very much right now," I
said, menace oozing from my voice.
    "Okay. Five minutes."
    I guess Barty could add, ‘unable to convey
deadly violence with her voice’ to my list of shortcomings.
     
    Morgan Hill was all that I'd thought it would
be and more.
    “Large brick buildings with arched windows,
architectural columns and wide marbled steps framing a large
courtyard neatly divided by cobbled paths, stone benches and old
bent oak trees, draped in graying Spanish moss. Ivy climbing the
corners and sides of the buildings, beautifully manicured to add
texture and age-"
    "Are you finished?" Riley asked, annoyed.
    "Sorry, I guess I was thinking out loud,” I
hate it when that happens, “but don't you think it's beautiful?
There's a kind of presence, like it's been here forever. You have
to admit that's pretty impressive for a campus that's only ten
years old."
    Riley frowned. His voice coming out a little
rough, he said, "Honestly, I have seen much more beautiful
buildings, not including Olympus, which is beyond magnificent. With
time, what I once found beautiful has become mundane or excessive,
leaving me feeling bored and unimpressed."
    I folded my arms around my middle. "Wow,
immortality just doesn't seem all that cool right about now."
    Riley lifted my chin until I was looking into
his gray eyes. "I've been around a very long time, Myra, and I was
a dreary S.O.B. to begin with. You'll be fine."
    I wanted to accept his