Lydia, who had never been a horsewoman, was terrified at first. Josef, who loved horses, was awed, and almost appalled by his own reactions. He identified with Pegasus’ sense of power, imagined the beast galloping down dark hills, and he shuddered, almost dizzy with elation. Oversoul Seven wasn’t just elated: He was steadied and restored. His earth nature had seemed to grow new roots in the few moments since the arrival of Pegasus. Seven smiled: Suddenly he understood Lydia’s need for a place of her own in the universe, and he felt himself as the earthroot soul out of which all of his personalities emerged. At the same time, he experienced a rush of almost unendurable sorrow. It vanished almost at once, but lasted long enough for him to sense the sharp, private earth realities in which each human individual lived—

Seven was so fascinated by Pegasus, though, that he’d taken his attention away from Josef, who had just noticed Pegasus’ wings and was muttering, shaken, “I never saw a horse with wings before.” And for a moment, Josef’s consciousness was in two places at once. Elgren Hosentauf said anxiously, “Hear that? Talking about a horse with wings! He’s really delirious.” They were unsaddling in the barnyard where the horse manure steamed in the cold air, and with great shouts and bustling they managed to get Josef inside, to the kitchen.

His mother-in-law yelled, “Quick, sit him here.” She opened the oven, thrust Josef’s legs onto the open door so that his feet were inside, took out the bricks she’d heated, covered them with rags, and placed them between Josef’s body and the chair arms. The fire inside the stove was raging. She threw in more kindling.

All this time Josef kept opening and closing his eyes and muttering about the horse with wings. For a few moments, he didn’t feel anything. Then the burning, tingling, itching sensation started beneath his woolen stockings, a sodden wet smelly odor rose, someone grabbed his feet and removed the stockings which had been nearly frozen to his feet before, and Josef snapped to.

He looked down to see his feet, distant purple swollen hulks that seemed to belong to someone else. His mother-in-law was trying to force hot cocoa down his throat. One of the cats, having sneaked in from the barns, jumped on his lap and was indignantly chased by a serving girl. “You damned nincompoop,” Elgren began. “Trying a fool trick like that at a time like this.” Josef moaned, closed his eyes again, and pretended to be unconscious so as to avoid the coming lecture.

Chapter Eight

Lydia Meets Christ Under Very Unfortunate Circumstances

As Josef disappeared, Lydia cried, “I never did remind him that I’m supposed to be born as his daughter. The least he could do is remember that.”