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twinkle.
    —Deggle, if you …
    Deggle was still a master of interruption. He waved a ringed hand.
    —Please, my dear. I did tell you. Do call me Lokki. People might hear .
    —Lokki. If you’re still here after all this time, you must know about Sispy .
    Deggle cocked his head and looked puzzled.
    —Sispy, he mused, Siss-pee. What is it, old eagle? Soup? It sounds awfully familiar.
    —You know very well. Sispy. Sispy the pedlar. With the bottles, Lokki. The blue bottle. You remember Livia.
    Flapping Eagle tried to make it sound like a threat, but Deggle laughed happily.
    —Mmm, he said. Of course, Livia—by which I take it you mean Mrs Livia Cramm, widow of Oscar Cramm, the tin-tack king—has been dead for such a very long time. Long before my time, of course. Now if only my illustrious ancestor Nicholas Deggle were still alive, I’m sure he’d know exactly what you mean.
    He smiled beautifully. Like the Deggle himself, Flapping Eagle remembered.
    —Now, he said, may I offer you a drink?
    The Great Lokki lived in a caravan just outside X. There was a horse between the shafts and an extremely beautiful and very stupid conjurer’s assistant between the sheets.
    —Lotti, explained Deggle, looking embarrassed. Lokki and Lotti, you see.
    Frustration was building within Flapping Eagle, the frustration of centuries.
    —Deggle, he said, ignoring the Great Lokki’s anguished protest, I think it’s time you stopped trying to make a fool of me.
    —But my dear, said Deggle and his eyes were not twinkling, that’s so easy.
    Flapping Eagle was on the verge of committing an act of physical violence when, abruptly, Deggle said: —Piss off, Lotti. His language seemed to have acquired occasional lapses, its quality reduced to suit his reduced way of life. There couldn’t have been a Livia Cramm for a very long time. At any rate, Lotti pissed off outside to chat to the horse, which was therefore able to feel intellectually superior to at least one human being.
    Deggle said: —I think you’re just about ready for Calf Island.
    Flapping Eagle didn’t entirely understand or believe what Deggle told him, about “making a gate” to the island. It had apparently taken centuries of trying, and even now might be dangerous. But despite his bewilderment, he didn’t care. This was undoubtedly the haven of which Sispy had spoken, so it was undoubtedly the place for which he was destined.
    Mrs Cramm had said it was his lot to be led; and he was filled with something approaching hate for Sispy, who had distorted his entire life in one casual stroke so very long ago. He found himself wanting not only his freedom from the chains of immortality, but some kind of satisfaction as well.
    He went for a walk alone the next morning, in the hills above X. He was saying goodbye to the world, since, if half of what Deggle had said was true, there was a good chance he would never see it again.
    In the afternoon he went down to the jetty and prepared the boat for departure. Deggle still disclaimed any need for it.
    In the evening, Deggle and Lotti came to see him off. —The evening is the best time to try and get through, Deggle had said. They waved.
    —Deggle, Flapping Eagle said as he pushed off, I’d love to know what motivates you.
    —Oh, well, shrugged the wickedly-smiling conjurer, perhaps I don’t like your friend Sispy very much either. But then, perhaps I do.
    —Byeee, squeaked Lotti.
    —Ethiopia, said Deggle.
    Flapping Eagle no longer knew whether he was mad, whether he had accepted Deggle’s story so unquestioningly, been so willing to follow his instructions despite the warnings of physical danger, just as an excuse for doing away with himself. He was, he told himself, doing the only thing he could do.
    —They go there, Deggle had said, from choice, because they chose immortality. Whereas you are after something quite different: old age. Physical decay. And, presumably, death. You should set the cat among the pigeons,