�Why me?� said Connor.

�Who else, but you?� replied Duncan. �She�s your favorite.�

Connor regarded his friend with the same steely gaze he�d used back in the Highlands. �I have lots of favorites.�

Duncan barely cracked a grin, but his eyes twinkled. �I am somewhat aware of that.�

Outside, the leaves were turning. The tips of the trees burned, brushed with a fiery paintbrush and the air shimmered the color of champagne. Crisp air greeted them in the morning when they went for a run. The autumn moon crept larger than life through the sky last night and they�d stayed up sipping scotch to watch it.

�What does she want and why do I think it means work?�

Duncan gestured at him without even looking. �She doesn�t really know, Connor, she can�t articulate things clearly. All I heard clearly was �bathtub.� I wager you can guess, though. Look at all the hints she�s left.�

The elder Scot studied the room. A bowl of ice cream with a cherry on top sat on the table. A cherry? No�she�s not a make-love-in-the-morning kind of girl. Sometime I�ll have to figure out why not� Ice cream. A spoon. A stuffed white seal. A white seal? Ice cream and a seal?

Duncan left him there quietly contemplating. Richie was eating toast and eggs in the kitchen and there were five CDCers all gabbing and sipping coffee with him. The lithe young man looked like a fox in the henhouse and Duncan smiled to see him.

�Where is the old man?�

�Which one?� asked hayden with a laugh.

�The really old one.�

�He stalked through here in a hideous shirt complaining about losing a bet.�

�Ahhh, good. He�s working.� Duncan poured a cup of coffee and quirked an eye at the obvious strength of the brew. �Looks like MacNair did the �go-juice� this morning.�

�Yessir and she�s definitely put the !GO! in the �go-juice� and you�ve been warned,� said Sharz.

�I am warned,� replied Duncan, exiting the kitchen. He found Methos leaning against the bathroom doorframe with a wad of wallpaper crumpled around his feet. �That didn�t take long to tear off.�

�Ahh, the modern conveniences. I used the clothes steamer and it came right off.� Methos jammed his hands down in his pockets. �Why are we tearing apart the bathroom, anyway? There�s nothing wrong with it except the silly shower curtain that k�lynn likes. As a matter of fact, this has become k�lynn�s bathroom entirely. There isn�t a one of us that wants to pick up all her toys and wigets and soap-a-ropes and what-not to even TAKE a shower in here!�

Duncan didn�t ask what Methos considered a wiget. Nor did he correct his term about k�lynn�s �soap-on-a-rope� collection. �I�m not sure what we�re doing to this bathroom � but let�s go see Connor. I bet he�s figured it out already.�

They both trouped to find Connor MacLeod, who was now eating the ice cream and studying the seal on the table. lynnann had been through the room; she�d fastened a green napkin around Connor�s neck to keep him from drizzling ice cream on the oriental rug�a habit she�d picked up from taking care of k�lynn.

�So, what�s this all about, Highlander?� Methos inquired, slouching against the nearest doorframe. �And how did you rate ice cream at eight in the morning?�

�The seal doesn�t have any spots,� he said.

Duncan said nothing, waiting for the eureka moment which he knew was sure to come. He didn�t have long to wait. �I�ve GOT it!� Connor rose with a laugh and ice cream hit the wall with a splick. Methos chased the drop with a finger.

�So, what are we doing today?�

�The seal doesn�t have any spots. It�s clean. She watched the National Geographic Special the other night with me and it was all about seals�she was intrigued with how they get into the water.� He grinned, thinking, already ahead of his words and into the structure of the house. �She wants a seal slide from her closet into her tub.�

Methos groaned. �Why does it always involve knocking holes in the walls? Do you know how many thousands of years I longed for a house with no holes in the walls?�

MacNairCDC
October 9, 2004

This is pacem�s fault!

Back to The Playroom

Back to the Library

Home