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there and
I am going to stay home and tend her kids. She lives in Idaho Falls, so I will
be staying there each day until her husband gets home from work. It should be
interesting because he leaves at about 5:00 each morning and he doesn’t get
home until late, so I guess I will be getting up really early to get there
before he leaves for work. I could stay there but I am not a very sound sleeper
and I will sleep better in my own bed. The things you do to try and help out.
    How are things going at your house? Are you enjoying this
beautiful weather? I sure am. I wish it would stick around for half of the
winter. When do you go on your vacation? How’s the book coming? You didn’t tell
me who did the cover.
    My daughter is doing a fund raiser next Saturday for a local
charity. She’s a great little artist and I’m really proud of her. Would you
like to come? We’ll be there from noon until six. It’s just here in town.
    I spent the day cleaning out a room for my son to stay in
while he is down here from Vancouver. It seems that he and his wife will be
getting a divorce. It makes me really sad but it is not my decision to make.
They are the ones that have a new baby coming. It is due in about two weeks.
    It’s funny, but when you just start to think that your
family is perfect, all Hell breaks loose. I guess it will all work out somehow.
    Well, I guess I had better start making more babies.
    You have a good evening. I look forward to hearing from you,
Callii

 
    ***

 
    From Levi Stone
    One hour later
    Hi Callii, it’s nice to hear from you. I’m sorry I dropped
off the face of the earth. I read your message last Tuesday night and flew to
Boston the next day. We got back yesterday. It was a good trip and a lot of
fun. It was good to reconnect with Mary for a few days. Everything was pretty
good—really. But there are other times that I yearn for a good wife—like
tonight for instance, but that’s a tale that I won’t elaborate on. (Got a week
or two? Heh, heh…).
    You sound a little down tonight. I’m sorry. Life is just the
pits sometimes. I feel bad for you. Hang in there girl, you’re usually so
upbeat. My two kids both have good marriages, I feel lucky that way, but I have
some nieces and nephews that had some tough times this year. My sibling (I won’t
tell you which one) unloaded on me one day last summer about their kids and all
their troubles. They wouldn’t even let me tell Mary about it. So far I’m
completely leak proof.
    I’ll try to answer most of your questions from your previous
e-mail tonight. We’ll see how I do.
    I’m sorry but I can’t make it to your art show, even though
I would really like to come and support you. I would love to see you, but my
niece is getting married that day in a little town about two hours from here.
Both events are at about the same time, so there’s no way I can go to both.
Sorry.

 
    About five years ago, when I was writing my Halloween book,
we had a contest at Idaho State University for an artist to create a cover for
the new book. A guy named Craig Hanson was head and shoulders above everyone
else. He drew up the picture and got paid handsomely to do it, at least for a
college student he did. I contacted him about the cover for this new book and
he agreed to do it for $600—it was less than he got paid the first time. I told
him what I wanted and he came through with flying colors, as you’ve seen. It’s
just what I’d envisioned. Anyway, the book will be fun. In the book my friend
and I work for the carnival, the summer before high school, and we have eight
different adventures in eight different towns. It ends up a little spookier
than I wanted it to, dealing with the mysterious gypsy women that we work with,
but oh well—I’m a spooky kind of a guy.
    You said you threw away a bunch of shoes and then you asked
me what I collect. I seem to collect shirts, mainly. I’ve got so many shirts I’ve
never worn all of them, and ties too. I’m also