taken in the near future. I didn't think he even noticed
we had left.
I had the strangest feeling when we drove up to
the cottage, approaching it on a road off the rear of the
cemetery. It was as if we had all become miniaturized
and we were about to enter the toy cottage, become
citizens of a toy world, a world of magic and makebelieve, the world Luke and I had lived in for so much
of our lives. Troy, the master creator of the Tatterton
Toy world was our magician. He would touch us with
his magic wand and make the ugly and the sad world
go away.
Luke loved the cottage and was fascinated with
all of Troy's new creations, especially the medieval vil- lage. Troy prepared sandwiches and drinks for us, and he and Luke talked about college, Boston, and some of the things he was creating I sat back and listened, happy the two of them were getting along so
well
Finally, Troy sat back, a gentle smile on his
face as he looked from me to Luke.
"Tell me what your plans are now."
"Plans? Luke's back in college. He'll go on to
be a doctor. I supposeIll travel through Europe as my
parents originally planned for me to do, so I can study
the Great Masters, and then attend college myself to
develop my art talent. We'll go our separate ways and
do what we can to make our lives meaning ful." "I see." He looked away, the smile lifting off
his face and disappearing like smoke. When he looked
back at us, his face was full of sorrow and pain again.
"I must confess that I have brought you here with
ulterior motives in mind. Believe me when I tell you I
have agonized for days over these things. The greater
temptation is to bury the past alongside Tony and Heaven and Logan, and live out my days as I
am now. . . ghostlike, apart from the real world,