The guy beamed, wiped his hands with the towel, and said the words I was expecting.
“Not a problem. Sure I couldn’t interest you folks in some lunch as well? Just got a fresh wagon-load in. Everything’s really crisp. You all need your strength, what with the round-up coming.”
“Thanks, partner,” I said. “That sounds really good, but I think we’ll just start with the juice right now, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” he said.
A few moments later he came back with three glasses of the carrot juice, smiled at us as he put them down, then headed off into the kitchen.
“Okay, that does it,” Tanda said, staring at where the guy had gone. “I’m officially completely creeped out.”
“What?” Aahz asked. “All the staring cows last night didn’t do it for you?”
“Okay, double creeped out,” Tanda said.
I downed about a half a glass of carrot juice and sat back, letting the wonderful flavor warm me. How I had ever lived without the stuff was beyond me.
“I think you might want to go easy on that juice,” Aahz said. He was looking as tired as I had felt a few minutes ago.
“I think you might want to try some,” I said, “if you’re expecting to get to the treasure tonight.”
He shook his head.
“I think one of us hooked on carrot juice is enough.”
“Your loss,” I said.
He just frowned and pulled out the map.
This time the map hadn’t changed. My magik had worked. We were still headed for Donner, which looked to be a good distance from here. I was going to need all the energy I could get. I downed another quarter of the glass.