She looked up at Josh again. He shrugged, as if he was quite used to Elementals appearing and vanishing before his eyes.

“What I’m a-hankerin’ fer, more’n anythin’ else in th’ world,” Josh said aloud, as if picking up a conversation in the middle, “is somethin’ I cain’t git in Ducktown, an’ I ain’t sure where I can git it. I only knows it’ll be purdy dear iffen I c’n find it, so I gotter save fer it.”

“What’s thet?” she asked, going along with this line of conversation.

“Carvin’ tools. The kind what real artists use. Every size’a stone chisel there is, an’ I know they’s liddler ones than I got, fer carvin’ agate stones inter cameos. An’ I want wood carvin’ chisels too, on account’a they’s some carvin’ easier done with a chisel than a knife. An’ I want real wood carvin’ knives, not jest a penknife, nor a clasp-knife, nor a pig-sticker.” He sighed. “None’a thet’s at th’ gen’ral store, an’ I don’ reckon they knows how t’git setch stuff. The stone chisels I got now’s on loan from Mistuh Cavenel. I want m’own.”

Then his eyes got a distant look in them. “I wanter learn how t’cast metal, too. I c’n make stuff in clay, but how d’ye go from a clay statchoo to a bronze one?”

“I dunno,” she said into the silence, impressed by his ambition, his hunger to learn things. Clearly there were visions of works in his head that he was itching to get out and into material form—but he didn’t have the knowledge or the tools. And that frustrated him.

Then he shrugged and smiled at her. “Might’s well wish fer the moon, aye?”

“Wall, Cavenel gots his chisels from somewhere, so he oughter know where t’start lookin’,” she pointed out. “And ain’t they moo-seums jest fer art?” Where had she heard that? She wasn’t sure. Maybe it was her Ma?

“Aye,” Aunt Jinny said, turning around. “Your Granny set a powerful store by readin’ ’bout th’ doin’s in th’ big cities. She useter git nooze-papers sent to ’er from all over arter th’ War. I allus thunk it was useless hankerin’ arter thin’s she’d niver see, but iffen it kep’ ’er happy, thet kep’ Pa happy, so it weren’t no skin offen my nose. An’ there was plenty in them papers ’bout ar-teests an’ moo-seums, an’ somethin’ called galleries. She useter read thet stuff out loud arter dinner, so I know Maybelle heard ’bout thangs like thet.”

“So iffen I got a-hold of one o’ them papers, I could find out about sech places, an’ I could write to ’em, an arst ’em where t’get sech tools!” Josh exclaimed.

Aunt Jinny shrugged. “Reckon y’all could. Reckon they’s folks in Cleveland what gits them papers sent to ’em regular. Reckon y’all could git someone t’give y’all th’ old ones. Reckon th’ man ter arst’d be Jeb Sawyer in Cleveland, since he does cartin’ work all over Cleveland, an’ I reckon he knows th’ rag-an’-bone man. So there’s yer start.” Anna could tell that her aunt was highly amused by the way Josh was about to bust; that was why she was doling out the information a little at a time. “An’ I reckon I c’n send along a note fer him next time I sends a batch’a potions t’ Anna’s Ma.”