“He didn’t think he had a chance with her, no sir. He wasn’t even in love, not like that. It was just a thank-you, something beautiful to give, because words weren’t always his strong suit. Still, he was a little scared, about what the Rambling Duke might think. So he picked a time when the Duke and his cronies would be off somewhere, pulling a job they didn’t bother to invite him along to, they didn’t even think he knew about. And the Fish Boy went over to the witch’s house, to bring her a present. It was just around moonrise, as I recall, and the fireflies were aglow all over the swamp. I felt like I was floating past the stars and planets, I did, walking to her place. I felt like I had left this world and found myself somewhere better.”

Boss Authority wasn’t even Orating anymore, not really. He was telling me a story, I realized, a true one. But the power of the cards remained, and I could see him, the Fish Boy, a little runt of a fella with a pug face, carrying this giant portrait of flowers. I could smell them, they smelled like honey and lavender, they smelled like Mom’s bakery in the afternoon, with the pies just out of the oven. I was walking with him, I was, not even the Fish Boy, but Boss Authority when he was younger, just barely an adult. I could feel the joy and anticipation sparking in his heart, how excited he was to give the witch his present, to thank her for being so kind to him. I couldn’t wait to give it to her either. It was all I wanted in the world.

“Bobby Felix,” said Pop. “Please.”

Again Boss Authority slammed his clockwork fist on the table, this time splintering it.

“Don’t you talk,” he said. “Don’t you say another word. This is my story, and I’m telling it exactly as it happened.”

There was a moment of stillness then, a flicker of magic thick as fog in the air, you could smell it, you could taste it. Everyone was rapt, no one moved. Except for Tally, inching along toward Boss Authority, her hands in her pockets, just a trace of spider on her face. What was Tally up to?

But I couldn’t think about it for long, because Boss Authority got back to his tale, and the magic swallowed me whole.

“I tell you again,” said Boss Authority, “I had no designs on her. I only wanted to say thank you. And when I opened that door, expecting to see Samantha Annie’s face beaming at me, all smiling at the pretty little thing I grew her, I was about the happiest man on this earth, and that’s a fact.”

I saw her then, my mom as she was when she was young. Bright and pretty and strong, unafraid. None of the scars from the oven or the crow’s-feet around her eyes, no hint of worry or exhaustion or frustration. I saw her the way Boss Authority saw her, just the same as she was on his Parsnit card, and she was beautiful.