"He smiled, "want me to enchant something?"I shook my head, "maybe later."I gestured and we moved to one side of the room. I opened the shoulder bag I... was carrying, "actually I wanted to run a few ideas by you."I used a picture frame to hold a large sheet of paper, "you know how mage bands work..."A younger mage moved closer, "of course we know how..."I looked at him, "I was not speaking to you."He reddened as I looked at William and he nodded, "yes."I touched the rough draft, "basically they. . to change meback," I said finally looking up at him eye to eye but only for a momentbefore quickly looking back down at my tiny feet.My toes wriggled around a bit in my tennis shoes and I shifted back and forthfrom one foot to the other nervously."Hold out your hand," he said and I did and watched him slip the ring on andoff my index finger. "Permanent I'm afraid. That's what comes from playingwith magic that doesn't belong to you. You'll just have to get used to it,child. There is nothing I. " You're really going all out, aren't you?" Jackie commented."Well, Jim Horton sort of said that he wishes my granddaddy were alive to see this," Fred said. "Too late to get started this winter, but I keep thinking about getting up a team of my own. We better get outside and watch this."Outside, they looked up the street, to see the flashing lights of the Warsaw Fire Department's grass truck coming up the street. Behind the truck, they could see a pair of dog sleds, one running behind the. When I came downstairs my mother was sitting at the kitchen table having coffee. She looked up and smiled."My, but you're up early," she said."I know. I couldn't bear to be away from you any longer," I said and laughed. I'm not sure she knew how true that was. I walked over and leaned down and kissed her. It wasn't the typical peck. I figured we were way beyond that. My tongue entered her mouth and I could taste her morning coffee. She was smiling when I pulled away."I thought you took cream in.