The Sorcerer's House
head.
    "You see, that's what happens when a man goes to bars. My postman used to do it, too, that biker bar in Port--I won't tell you where it is."
    I explained that I had fought an intruder.
    "Did you say he was a boy?"
    "Half grown." I shrugged. "He seemed strong for his age. At any rate, he proved more than a match for me."
    "Most men would have told me there were two of them."
    "As would I," I said, "if there had been. As it was, I was saved from a worse beating by his father."
    "You should have called the police."
    "I don't have a telephone."
    "Still? I'll call them. Get a cell phone."
    I nodded and said I suppose I would have to.
    "There's this wonderful place that will give you one. Did you know about them?"
    I certainly had not known, and said so.
    "If you'll sign up for their service, you get a free cell phone. It's bottom of the line, of course."
    She waited for my reaction, and I said, "Good."
    "If you don't want to take pictures with it, or watch sports or any of that . . ."
    "I simply want to call the police," I said. Honesty forced me to add, "And my friends."
    The truth, George, was that I was thinking it might be possible for me to obtain assistance from Doris and Martha now and then if I had a telephone.
    Nor was that all. During the time I was living at the Riverman, I pretty well gave up my job search; months have elapsed since I stopped looking, and it seems possible that something has opened up. Doris orMartha may know of employment opportunities I would never have discovered for myself, for that matter.
    "And your family, of course. You must have a family."
    "Hardly any save my brother," I explained. "He's very busy and sometimes becomes angry when I call him." (As you see, I accorded
you
every consideration. Far be it from me to defame a family member, even when strict truth would require it.)
    "That's a shame."
    I agreed, and mentioned that I would soon be seeking employment.
    "Not until your face heals, Mr. Dunn. Nobody will hire somebody who looks like he's been fighting."
    I had not thought of that, but she is indubitably correct.
    The upshot of all this, George, was that my cuts and bruises were bandaged and salved--"I always wanted to be a nurse"--and that I was Martha's guest at lunch. She spoke at some length about the advantages of selling my house and moving to an urban area in which I might more readily find employment, but I will not give that here.
    What surprised me was her evident pleasure when I explained that I would greatly prefer to stay where I was for the time being. "Since you're staying, I hope to see you from time to time, Mr. Dunn. When you have your cell phone--did I give you the address?"
    I shook my head, and she wrote it out for me.
    "Give me a call when you have it, will you? Before I give it to anyone else, I want to make sure they treat their customers right."
    Of course I promised I would.
    As matters evolved, I did not actually require the address she had provided. She drove me there, waited while I signed the agreement and received my telephone, and drove me home. "Call me anytime," she said in parting. "I live alone, you know. I'm always glad of company."
    Need I say that I returned home in high spirits?
    At once I began a search for the means by which the boy had entered my house. I found it (or at least found one way, which may well be the correct one) immediately. Earlier, you see, George, I had searched the house from within; it was by that means that I discovered the broken side door.
    Wiser now, I chose to search outside. There are at least eight rooms on the ground floor, and I may well have missed one or even two. Five of these are corner rooms.
    I had no sooner reached the back of the house, than my eye fell upon an old-fashioned cellar door greatly in need of paint, the kind that the boys of long ago slid down. There is a hasp on it, but no lock.
    My first thought was to nail it shut, as I had the side door. In the end I refrained for three reasons, all of

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