The Care and Feeding of Griffins by R. Lee Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

small book, comparatively speaking.  It was about the size of a video cassette tape and half the thickness.  The cover was soft leather, rubbed shiny, and title-less.  The pages were sewn into the binding, not paper at all, but a soft and supple fabric.  The lettering was neat, if haphazardly spelled at times.  And on the first page was written, The Care and Feeding of Young Griffins , by Bancha Sorefoot.
    “ I found it!” Taryn called, startled, and Aisling raised his head and chirped distress.
    Taryn backed away from the shelves, pulling him down in the crook of her arm again and trying to turn pages with jus t one hand.  Chapter One: Griffin or Gryphon ?  She laughed out loud, her eyes still huge and unbelieving.
    “ Hurry!” Romany said again, and this was urgency in her voice.
    “ Okay, I’m coming!”  And without thinking about it, Taryn went to the check-out counter, set her book down, and dug into her back pocket for her wallet.  In the very back sleeve was a worn and wrinkled slip of paper, marked with a six-year old’s best penmanship, and Taryn brought it out.  She turned it over and wrote ‘Care and Feeding of Griffins’ on the back and left it.  Then she picked up her book, renewed her grip on her griffin, and headed for the door.
    Romany stared past her at the library card left on the counter.  On her face, an expression of surprise had finally erased all the slyness.  When she looked at Taryn next, she was smiling.  “Well done, thee,” she said.  “Now come, and quickly.”
    Taryn went, ducki ng beneath the gypsy’s arm and then on ahead, to wait by the heavy outer doors for Romany to come and open them.  Romany was there in an instant, humming under her breath as she pushed.  The gypsy’s arms strained, but the doors didn’t budge.  Taryn knew a moment of kindling panic, but Romany only panted out a dry chuckle and hummed a little louder.  “Think thee so, thee old buzzard?  Ha.  For am I not Romany?  I go where I will!”  She pushed again, rolling her shoulders like a cat about to pounce, as easy in her element as the dragons singing softly in her hair.
    Taryn felt, or thought she felt, a subtle shifting beneath her feet, as though the building itself had heaved a sigh of parting, and she glanced back through the tinted glass and into the sleeping library for one last wistful look.
    At the librarian’s counter, intangible as a ghost, the figure of an old woman in long robes seemed to be materializing out of the air.  She could see this entity peering down at the counter, see it pinching up her library card and looking around with a baffled expression, but it was fading, or she was.  Romany’s humming grew louder and then the doors were swinging wide.  There was no ghost and no librarian.  All was dark.  The library was asleep again.
    Taryn stepped out into the autumn air, smelling rain on wet pavement and hearing the not-so-distant drone of traffic and the raised, laughing voices of children moving in and out of the real library down the street.
    Taryn lingered in the shade of the overhang and opened her new book at random, skimming rapidly through words she knew she’d probably memorize before too long.
    There are some who believe griffins are only female.  These people need to have sex more often.  Maybe if they did , they’d eventually realize that, leaving aside the nature of certain invertebrates and, of course, the puppet yewhg, males are necessary for more than just moving heavy objects.  However, I won’t say that males aren’t rare.  In each of the four species collectively known as griffins, males make up only five percent of the population entire .
    “ And is thee satisfied?” Romany asked, stepping up close behind her.
    “ Yes!  Thank you!”  Taryn flipped rapidly through pages to continue reading.
    Shortly after hatching, the young chicks are fed for the first time.  One parent (usually the cob, since the crown seldom leaves her den