“Well, it’s something Markie said…”
Markie again. I definitely owed Aahz an apology.
“… She made some crack about her daddy, that’s Skeeve, letting me live there, and it got me to thinking. Things have been nice these last couple years … almost too nice. Since we haven’t had to worry about overhead, Chumley and I haven’t been working much. More important, we haven’t been working at working. It’s too easy to hang around the place and wait for something to come to us.”
“Getting fat and lazy, huh?” Gus grinned.
“Something like that. Now, you know me, Gus. I’ve always been footloose and fancy free. Ready to follow a job or a whim at the drop of a hat. If anyone had suggested to me that I should settle down, I would have punched their lights out. Now all of a sudden, I’ve got a permanent address and family . . . family beyond Chumley, I mean. I hadn’t realized how domestic I was getting until Skeeve showed up with Markie. A kid, even. When I first saw her, my first thought was that it would be nice to have a kid around the place! Now I ask you, Gus, does that sound like me?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
The gargoyle’s voice was so quiet I scarcely recognized it as his.
“Right then I saw the handwriting on the wall. If I don’t start moving again, I’m going to take root . . . permanently. You know, the worst thing is that I don’t really want to go. That’s the scariest part of all.”
“I don’t think Aahz or Skeeve want you to go either.”
“Now don’t you start on me, Gus. This is hard enough for me as it is. Like I said, they’re family, but they’re stifling me. I’ve got to get away, even if it’s only for a little while, or I’m going to lose a part of me … forever.”