Hounded

patient, haven’t you? « I said. » Tell you what. Next time we go hunting, we’ll head down to the Chiricahua Mountains. That’s south of here and I think you’ll like it. «
    › What’s down there? ‹
    » Mule deer. Maybe some of those bighorn sheep, if we get lucky. «
    › When can we go? ‹
    » Probably not until this business is over, « I admitted. » I know it will be a long wait for you, but I promise we’ll do nothing but hunt once we go. The trip will be for you. But that’s not to say you’re going to be totally bored in the meantime. We’ll probably get attacked at any moment. «
    › Really? ‹
    » Well, it’s more likely going to be after we leave the store. «
    Oberon’s ears perked up and he turned to the door. › Someone’s coming. ‹
    A customer walked in, looking for a copy of The Upanishads , and after that a fairly steady stream of people were either browsing or buying something. The lunchtime lull was over, and soon enough Perry came back to help out. After giving a regular his customary cup of Daddy’s Little Helper (my code for a tea designed to promote prostate health), the phone rang. It was a call from one of Radomila’s coven.
    » Mr. O’Sullivan, my name is Malina Sokolowski. May I speak to you about what occurred between you and Emily this afternoon? «
    » Well, sure. But I cannot speak frankly right now. I have customers in the store. «
    » I understand, « she replied. She had a warm voice and a faint accent that had to be Polish, judging by her name. » Let me ask you this: Do you consider the contract between you and Emily to still be in effect? «
    » Oh, absolutely. « I nodded as if she could see it. » Nothing happened to nullify that. «
    » That is reassuring. Would you mind terribly if I accompanied her for tomorrow’s tea? «
    » I suppose that would depend on your intentions. «
    » I will not fence with you, « Malina said. What was this coven’s obsession with fencing? » My intention is to defend Emily in case you attack her again. «
    » I see. And, according to Emily, how many times have I attacked her so far? «
    » Once physically and once magically. «
    » Well, at least she got that part right. But in both cases, Malina, it was she who initiated the attack. I was able to redirect both attacks against her; hence the injuries you have no doubt seen. «
    » So it’s her word against yours, « she sighed.
    » Yes. And I understand that you must take her word against mine. But you must understand that she told me her lover is a sworn enemy of mine. By doing so, she has allied your entire coven with him. «
    » No, that’s unthinkable! « Malina objected. » If we were allied with this individual, then we would not be trying to humiliate him. «
    » Why are you trying to humiliate him? «
    » That is a question better answered by Radomila. «
    » So put her on. Is she there? «
    » Radomila is indisposed. « For normal people, that would mean she was taking a shower or something. In Radomila’s case, it probably meant she was in the middle of a complicated spell involving tongue of frog, eye of newt, and maybe a packet of Splenda.
    » I see. « A customer with greasy black hair hanging over his face came up to the counter with a bulk bag of incense sticks. » Look, I have to go. You’re welcome to come with Emily tomorrow, but it would be best to counsel her to keep silent around me. I can make her tea in silence, and she can drink it in silence; that way no one will get offended or injured. If you’d like to stay behind afterward, perhaps we can talk without coming to blows. «
    Malina agreed, said she looked forward to it, and we rang off. The greasy man asked me if I had access to medical marijuana as an apothecary, and I pasted a sorrowful expression on my face and told him no as I rang up the incense he needed to mask the stink of his habit.
    Drug addicts perplex me. They’re a relatively recent development, historically speaking. Everyone has their theories—monotheists like to blame it on Godlessness—but I think it was a plague that developed in the sooty petticoats of the Industrial Revolution and its concomitant division of labor. Once people specialized their labors and separated themselves from food production and the daily needs of basic survival, there was a hollow place in their lives that they did not know how to fill. Most people found healthy ways to fill it, with hobbies or social clubs or pseudo-sports like