'What's that?' said Gallen.
'Siggy's touching his toes,' I said. But, oh no, that wasn't it. He had ahold of the window grating; he'd reached over his head and had caught the weave of rungs and bars, and he seemed to press himself out into the courtyard - like some nocturnal enlivened beast, testing the strength of his cage.
'He's not touching his toes at all,' said Gallen.
'It's just a stretching exercise,' I said. And I hurried her along under the window ledges; I gave her a sudden blurry kiss at the monstrous castle door.
'We've got to watch out for your auntie,' I said, and I went into the castle ahead of her.
And did the soccer players seem suddenly interested? Was there a light in their eyes that hadn't shone since the day they were fixed, framed, and hung?
But there was no light coming under my own door, and for a long while I waited in the hall - listening to the perfect rhythm of my Siggy-friend's fake snores.
A Blurb from the Prophet
Will you ride with me?
The prison of the Sybarites
Is still fat and secure.
Will you always be such
Easy prey for sycophants?
Will you never admit
There are greater devotions?
Will you ride with me?
While the Sybarites take their sleep We can set their prisoners free.
'YOU'RE A BETTER snorer than a poet,' I said. 'I think you're more conscious about snoring.'
'Did the thunder wake you, Graff?'
'I read your poem in the lightning.'
'Ah,' he said. 'A veritable bolt lit your way.'
'And did you summon it?' I asked.
'It was very officious of me,' he admitted.
'From the window, Sig? Hanging on the grate, were you? Summoning wayward bolts?'
'Not at first,' he said. 'At first I was just watching when old Fate happened along with the nightfall and gave me a second looking-over.'
'Listen to that rain that's coming, Sig. Did you have a hand in that too?'
'Nothing to do with it, Graff. It's a slip-up, that rain. And all along the way, Graff, it's the slip-ups that have to be reckoned with.'
'I wish I'd seen Fate too,' I said. 'It must make a fellow very knowing.'
'Did you frot her yet, Graff?'
'I didn't,' I said.