I'd rather lie bare-assed naked on the sidewalk and be trampled by tourists from South Dakota than be an accountant.

We all look. The lucky find.

She gazed toward the marsh that grew thicker, deeper, greener with approaching summer. Mosquitoes whined in there, breeding in the dark water. Alligators slid through it, silent death. It was a place where snakes could slither and bogs could suck the shoe right off your foot. And it was a place, she thought, that went bright and beautiful with the twinkling of fireflies, where wildflowers thrived in the shade and the stingy light. Where an eagle could soar like a king. There was no beauty without risk. No life without it.

Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.

I'm not putting up with this," she continued. "You can't even go out and buy a solar system without worrying I'll fall apart. How are you supposed to get anything done?" "Actually, I'm not in the market for a solar system right at the moment.

Her killer wrote a note on that stationary." "A note." Now Renquist's eyebrows lifted. "Well. That was rather arrogant of him, wasn't it?

Do you see that out there? The strange, unfamiliar light? It's called the sun. Let's go get us a little.