They left the dance floor.
Whatever had been propelling the band through the hours of the night drained slowly away. They looked at one another. Spigot the fiddler glanced down at the jewel. It was still there.
The drummer tried to massage some life back into his wrists.
Spigot stared helplessly at the exhausted dancers.
“Well, then…” he said, and raised the fiddle one more time.
Miss Flitworth and her companion listened from the mists that were threading around the field in the dawn light.
Death recognized the slow, insistent beat. It made him think of wooden figures, whirling through Time until the spring unwound.
I DON’T KNOW THAT ONE.
“It’s the last waltz.
I SUSPECT THERE’S NO SUCH THING.
“You know,” said Miss Flitworth, “I’ve been wondering all evening how it’s going to happen. How you’re going to do it. I mean, people have to die of something, don’t they? I thought maybe it was going to be of exhaustion, but I’ve never felt better. I’ve had the time of my life and I’m not even out of breath. In fact it’s been a real tonic, Bill Door. And I—”
She stopped.
“I’m not breathing, am I.” It wasn’t a question. She held a hand in front of her face and huffed on it.
NO.
“I see. I’ve never enjoyed myself so much in all my life…ha! So…when—?”
YOU KNOW WHEN YOU SAID THAT SEEING ME GAVE YOU QUITE A START?
“Yes?”
IT GAVE YOU QUITE A STOP.
Miss Flitworth didn’t appear to hear him. She kept turning her hand backward and forward, as if she’d never seen it before.
“I see you made a few changes, Bill Door,” she said.
NO. IT IS LIFE THAT MAKES MANY CHANGES.
“I mean that I appear to be younger.”
THAT’S WHAT I MEANT ALSO.
He snapped his fingers. Binky stopped his grazing by the hedge and trotted over.
“You know,” said Miss Flitworth, “I’ve often thought…I often thought that everyone has their, you know, natural age. You see children of ten who act as though they’re thirty-five. Some people are born middle-aged, even. It’d be nice to think I’ve been…” she looked down at herself, “oh, let’s say eighteen…all my life. Inside.”
Death said nothing. He helped her up onto the horse.
“When I see what life does to people, you know, you don’t seem so bad,” she said nervously.
Death made a clicking noise with his teeth. Binky walked forward.
“You’ve never met Life, have you?”
I CAN SAY IN ALL HONESTY THAT I HAVE NOT.