“So she doesn’t have enough sense to keep her mouth shut. She’s just a kid. We can’t expect her to …”
“That’s my point. Think about our operation for a minute, partner. How many times in one day can things go sour if someone says the wrong thing at the right moment? It’s taken us a year to get Guido and Nunzio on board . . . and they’re adults. Bringing a kid into the place is like waving a torch around a fireworks factory.”
As much as I appreciated his efforts to explain a problem to me, I was starting to weary a bit of Aahz’s single-minded pursuit of his point.
“Okay. So I haven’t had much experience around kids. I may be underestimating the situation, but aren’t you being a bit of an alarmist? What experience are you basing your worries on?”
“Are you kidding?” my partner said, laughing for the first time in our conversation. “Anyone who’s been around as many centuries as I have has had more than their share of experience with kids. You met my nephew Rupert? You think he was born an adult? And he’s only one of more nieces, nephews, and grandchildren than I can count without being reduced to a nervous wreck by the memories.”
And I though I couldn’t be surprised by Aahz any more.
“Really? Grandchildren? I never even knew you had kids.”
“I don’t like to talk about it. That in itself should be a clue. When someone who likes to talk as much as I do totally avoids a subject, the memories have got to be less than pleasant!”
I was starting to get a bit worried. Realizing that Aahz usually tends to minimize danger, his warnings were starting to set my overactive imagination in gear.