"Here," she said, handing me the cane. "This is for you. I found it this morning and thought it would be easier for you to use than that unwieldy crutch."

I took it from her outstretched hand and looked at it. The shaft was an inch and a half thick rod of smooth, dark stained wood that tapered slightly into a worn brass end cap. The handle was a dragon head, meticulously carved from the same type of dark wood as the shaft. The artwork and detail were incredible. Each tiny individual reptile scale was carved out and defined from the others. The open snarling mouth held rows of small, pointed, ivory teeth set into the upper and lower jaws. Two button-sized, faceted, blue gem eyes looked out at me and a mother of pearl inlaid band collared the beast where the polished shaft joined with the carved neck.

"Poppy this is beautiful." I turned it over and looked at it from all angles.

"Well, I would say that I hope you get many years of use and enjoyment out of it, but let's hope you only need to use it for a few weeks. After that let's hope it's for decoration only."

I held the cane in my hands disbelieving. "I'm not sure I understand, you mean you're giving this to me?"

"Yes, it is yours."

"I...I don't know what to say. I mean these, these eyes look like-"

"Sapphires?" she prompted.

"Yeah, sapphires."

"They are."

"I don't understand," I said confused.

"Try it out, see how it fits," she said, motioning for me to walk around the room like a model. I obeyed her subtle command in my stunned state and walked around the baptismal font. It felt perfect and made it much easier for me to get around. It was just the right height, just the right weight and fit my hand perfectly.

"It looks good on you," she said admiring me. "The eyes match yours, very nice."

That was it. I had reached a breaking point and gift horse or not, this pig was asking some questions. "Poppy, why are you doing this?" I asked, looking at her as seriously as I could. She gave back a similar stare. "I figure you patched me up and let me stay because you felt guilty for almost killing me, but this," I said, holding up the cane, "this is far beyond that. I want to know why you are doing this."

She broke off her stare, lifted her eyes to the ceiling and let out an exhale before looking at me sincerely. "Let me show you why."

1 J.E. McTaggart, a Hegelian Philosopher of some respect in his native England and a committed atheist, pursues some interesting facets of perceived reincarnation in Some Dogmas of Religion. Specifically he theorizes that interests, aptitudes and skills are inherited from our previous incarnations. This would have no doubt been of interest to Evan Michaels.