husky note. That intensity creeping back. They couldn't ignore the strange awareness for long, either of them. She realized that. It was unnerving—and exciting. All her senses felt almost painfully alive, sensitive to everything around her in a way they'd never been before.
The lightness of the game was only an interlude. An area of calm between recognition and completion. But it was like the eye of a vast storm, with raw turbulence visible all around, a tangible force that could never be contained.
"Amanda?"
Quickly she reached for the next card. "The category?"
"Geography," he said after a moment.
She kept her gaze fixed on the card she held. "What country would you have to visit to see the ruins of Troy?"
"Turkey. I think."
"You think right. Next?"
The intensity receded. But it didn't vanish. It hovered close, on the edge of awareness.
Ryder was able to answer correctly that the swallows were supposed to return to the San Juan Capistrano mission every March 19, and knew that the last major league baseball player to bat.400 was Ted Williams, but he didn't know that the one thing in India you were forbidden to fly an airplane over was the Taj Mahal.
Amanda knew that a ring-shaped coral island was better known as an atoll, but couldn't remember that Sherlock Holmes's landlady was Mrs. Hudson. She got her turn back quickly, however, since Ryder didn't know that the only mammal with four knees was the elephant.
"Four knees?" he demanded skeptically.
"Says here."
"I knew that giraffes didn't have vocal cords, but I didn't know elephants had four knees."
Amanda suddenly recalled a circus visit years before. "Their back legs bend backward at the joint instead of forward. All four legs bend the same way. So they have four knees."
"Or four reversed elbows." Ryder blinked and seemed to consider what he'd said. "Two knees and two reversed elbows?"
"Reversed elbows?" Penny said, coming into the room with a tray. "What on earth—?"
Looking up at Penny solemnly, Amanda said, "Elephants have four knees. Or two knees and two reversed elbows. Ryder was trying to decide."
Penny put the big tray down on the coffee table beside the game board. The tray held coffee and sandwiches. "I think," she said in a conversational tone, "you two can definitely stand a little fuel for your systems. They seem to be operating at something less than full throttle."
"I resent that," Ryder said to her.
She eyed him. "I'm not surprised."
Amanda intervened hastily. "Is Sharon back yet?"
"No. I just called into town to check. They got there all right. But they won't be heading back this way until the storm's passed. Jake says even with the four-wheel-drive they found it rough going. The worst is supposed to be over within a couple of days, so they'll try then."
"Do we have enough supplies?"
Penny nodded. "Sure, for at least a week. And the bunkhouse has plenty. Well be fine." She looked at Ryder again, and shook her head with exaggerated pity. "It's a shame for a mind to go. And you barely in your prime."
He returned her gaze very seriously. "Did you know," he said, "that you can't fly an airplane over the Taj Mahal?"
Chapter Six
The storm raged, more or less, for two days. There were intervals of calm, but they never lasted long. The old house groaned and creaked in wind gusts of over forty miles an hour, and blowing snow was driven against the windows until it was almost impossible to see anything else.
They kept a fire going all the time in the den fireplace, mainly because the furnace went out twice. The first time it happened, Amanda went down into the basement and spoke sternly to it, adding a well-placed kick for emphasis.
"A furnace," Ryder told her severely, "is a piece of machinery, not a stubborn human."
"It worked, didn't it?" Amanda retorted.
They both listened to the soft roar of an undeniably working furnace, and Ryder was forced to admit that her tactics had accomplished their objective.
When the heat went off
The lightness of the game was only an interlude. An area of calm between recognition and completion. But it was like the eye of a vast storm, with raw turbulence visible all around, a tangible force that could never be contained.
"Amanda?"
Quickly she reached for the next card. "The category?"
"Geography," he said after a moment.
She kept her gaze fixed on the card she held. "What country would you have to visit to see the ruins of Troy?"
"Turkey. I think."
"You think right. Next?"
The intensity receded. But it didn't vanish. It hovered close, on the edge of awareness.
Ryder was able to answer correctly that the swallows were supposed to return to the San Juan Capistrano mission every March 19, and knew that the last major league baseball player to bat.400 was Ted Williams, but he didn't know that the one thing in India you were forbidden to fly an airplane over was the Taj Mahal.
Amanda knew that a ring-shaped coral island was better known as an atoll, but couldn't remember that Sherlock Holmes's landlady was Mrs. Hudson. She got her turn back quickly, however, since Ryder didn't know that the only mammal with four knees was the elephant.
"Four knees?" he demanded skeptically.
"Says here."
"I knew that giraffes didn't have vocal cords, but I didn't know elephants had four knees."
Amanda suddenly recalled a circus visit years before. "Their back legs bend backward at the joint instead of forward. All four legs bend the same way. So they have four knees."
"Or four reversed elbows." Ryder blinked and seemed to consider what he'd said. "Two knees and two reversed elbows?"
"Reversed elbows?" Penny said, coming into the room with a tray. "What on earth—?"
Looking up at Penny solemnly, Amanda said, "Elephants have four knees. Or two knees and two reversed elbows. Ryder was trying to decide."
Penny put the big tray down on the coffee table beside the game board. The tray held coffee and sandwiches. "I think," she said in a conversational tone, "you two can definitely stand a little fuel for your systems. They seem to be operating at something less than full throttle."
"I resent that," Ryder said to her.
She eyed him. "I'm not surprised."
Amanda intervened hastily. "Is Sharon back yet?"
"No. I just called into town to check. They got there all right. But they won't be heading back this way until the storm's passed. Jake says even with the four-wheel-drive they found it rough going. The worst is supposed to be over within a couple of days, so they'll try then."
"Do we have enough supplies?"
Penny nodded. "Sure, for at least a week. And the bunkhouse has plenty. Well be fine." She looked at Ryder again, and shook her head with exaggerated pity. "It's a shame for a mind to go. And you barely in your prime."
He returned her gaze very seriously. "Did you know," he said, "that you can't fly an airplane over the Taj Mahal?"
Chapter Six
The storm raged, more or less, for two days. There were intervals of calm, but they never lasted long. The old house groaned and creaked in wind gusts of over forty miles an hour, and blowing snow was driven against the windows until it was almost impossible to see anything else.
They kept a fire going all the time in the den fireplace, mainly because the furnace went out twice. The first time it happened, Amanda went down into the basement and spoke sternly to it, adding a well-placed kick for emphasis.
"A furnace," Ryder told her severely, "is a piece of machinery, not a stubborn human."
"It worked, didn't it?" Amanda retorted.
They both listened to the soft roar of an undeniably working furnace, and Ryder was forced to admit that her tactics had accomplished their objective.
When the heat went off
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